


The Unity Of This

by aewgliriel



Series: The Energy Never Dies [1]
Category: Dracula Untold (2014)
Genre: F/M, Het, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-23 14:37:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 42,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2551169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aewgliriel/pseuds/aewgliriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the death of her fiance, Mina Murray takes a teaching position at a university in Romania. It's there that she meets a handsome stranger named Vlad, and her life completely changes. He has secrets, but is he dangerous?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**\--Chapter One--**  
  
If she'd turned left instead of right, Mina Murray's life might never have changed.  
  
Evening was falling as she strolled down one of the streets of Bucharest, headed home from work a different direction than usual. She had a lot on her mind and wanted to mull through it. Her year's time here was almost at an end, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to return home to London, or take the offer of an extended position at the company.  
  
With a sigh, she wandered amongst the flower vendors, admiring the wide variety of colours and scents. She stopped at one cart that had pink and red peonies. Feeling drawn to them, she pick up a small bunch of pink ones to take home.  
  
"Pretty flowers," the woman selling the flowers said, in Romanian. "For a pretty lady."  
  
"Oh, thank you!"  
  
Mina hesitated over some mums, thinking they’d fill out a bouquet nicely, when the woman shook her head.  
  
“No, mums are bad luck,” the seller said. “You do not want those.”  
  
“Really? Mum are bad luck? That’s funny, I’ve never heard of that.” Mina's reply in the same tongue was halting. Deciding it didn’t matter, she smiled and handed over the requisite number of leu for the peonies.  
  
The vendor fell silent suddenly, eyes flicking to Mina's left. She was suddenly aware of a presence there, and turned, but there was no one there.  
  
"Beautiful."  
  
She turned to her right and looked up at the speaker, as he continued, in English. "The flowers," he said. "My lady."  
  
"My lady," she repeated, with amusement. He was handsome, she saw, high cheekbones and a strong jaw dusted with dark hair. "Where are *you* from?"  
  
"A long ways from here," he told her. There was an unnerving intensity in his dark hazel eyes.  
  
He smiled, a little quirk of the mouth, and hesitated, as if wanting to speak.  
  
Mina spoke before he could. "Well, good night!" she blurted, rattled by the feeling in her stomach that wanted to stay. She wasn't the type to talk to strangers, especially ones odd enough to call her "my lady".  
  
As she hurried away, the peonies clutched in her hands, she heard from behind her, "Why think separately of this life and the next, when one is born from the last?"  
  
She stopped, and a chill rushed over her, an overwhelming and intense sense of homesickness and longing stealing her breath. She turned, feeling shaky.  
  
"That's my favourite poem," she told him, somewhat incredulous.  
  
"It speaks to you of yearning," he said, as he closed the space between them. "Of one soul pleading for another."  
  
She stared up at him, blue eyes huge, and said, "I'm Mina."  
  
He took her hand in his gloved one, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. "Vlad."  
  
Mina smiled, charmed by the gesture. "How did you know I'm English?"  
  
Vlad returned the smile, bigger this time. "Your Romanian is terrible."  
  
She laughed.  
  
He gestured with a gloved hand towards the sidewalk ahead of them. "May I take you to dinner, Mina?"  
  
She hesitated, thought of how lonely she'd been since Jon died. "You may," she replied impishly. "As long as you help me with my Romanian."  
  
“If that’s all, certainly.”  
  
She laughed. “I should introduce myself properly. I’m Mina Murray.”  
  
“Vlad Nicolae,” he said. “Have you been in Romania long, Mina?”  
  
“I’m finishing up a year’s teaching at the university,” she said. “I’ve been offered a permanent position, but I’m trying to decide if I want to take it, or head back to Britain.”  
  
“I’m sure Romania would feel your loss,” Vlad said. He stopped at a recessed door, one without markings. It was just one of a number of old buildings scattered throughout the city.  
  
At her curious look, he told her, “A local secret. I know the owner.”  
  
They went inside, and Mina saw it was a small, cozy restaurant, converted from an old family home. They were warmly greeted, their coats taken, and quickly shown to a table. Vlad was a gentleman and helped Mina into a seat at the table.  
  
“There’s no menu here,” Vlad told her, as he sat down. “The cook is . . . eccentric. Diners eat what he feels like serving.”  
  
“Do we at least get to choose our wine?” she asked, delighted by the novelty.  
  
“We do,” he told her. To the server, he spoke in quick Romanian. To Mina, he said, “I’ve asked for a red of a decent year. I’m afraid I don’t drink wine much.”  
  
“Neither do I,” she confessed. “I mostly confine myself to a glass after a difficult day at work.”  
  
He gave a slight nod. “I can understand that. You said you teach at the university? What subject?”  
  
“Gothic literature,” she said. “You know, Stoker, Shelley, the classics of British horror.”  
  
“Shelley is a favourite of mine,” he told her, “though I’m not much a fan of most of Stoker’s works. I did, however, visit a few places where he lived and worked when I was in Dublin a few years ago.”  
  
“I’m afraid I haven’t travelled much,” Mina confessed. “Romania is my first time living outside of London, though I’ve been to Paris, and Berlin. I was born in London, and until recently, just hadn’t seen a need to leave it.”  
  
“I was born in Sighișoara. That’s in Mureș County, to the north of here,” Vlad said. “It’s a small town, very old, but I’ve spent most of my life here and there. I lived for a time in Budapest, I had an . . . internship in Istanbul.”  
  
She arched a blonde brow. “Istanbul? That must have been interesting. What was the internship for?”  
  
“Religious studies. It didn’t agree with me, though, so I returned to Romania as soon as I could.”  
  
“Mm.”  
  
Their server reappeared, with a tray loaded with dishes. They were placed family-style in the middle of the table. Mina saw it was a typical fare of potatoes, sausages, cabbage rolls served with sour cream, and a bean and meat soup.  
  
“What is it that you do, Vlad?” she asked. “You haven’t said.”  
  
“I dabble,” he told her. “After my studies, I came into some family money, and I’ve done what I can to expand the family ventures. I own a vineyard just outside Târgoviște. Ironic, I know, as I don’t sample much of my own product.”  
  
“Well, if it’s a family tradition, it can’t just be dropped, I suppose.”  
  
“Easily,” Vlad said, “as I have no family left.”  
  
She frowned, full lips turning down. “I haven’t any, either, unless you count my best friend Lucy. She’s practically a sister, but . . . I’m an orphan, I’m afraid. I never knew my parents. Lucy’s family fostered me.”  
  
Vlad leaned his forearms on the table, folding his ungloved hands before him. His long fingers were bare of any jewelry, though she noticed a leather cord just barely visible at the gap of his black shirt.  
  
“That’s unfortunate,” he told her softly. “Family is, I think, the most important thing. I lost my parents and my brother when I was young, but I knew them.”  
  
Mina smiled. “That’s good. I suppose I can’t really miss what I never knew, so I don’t mind all that much.”  
  
They ate in silence for a while, Vlad mostly picking at small bits of food. Mina noticed, but didn’t comment. It was possible the cook’s choices weren’t his favourite, but it wasn’t her place to say anything.  
  
“What made you choose Romania?” he asked over dessert. “Of all places you could have taught, why in Bucharest?”  
  
Mina picked up her wine glass and swirled the deep red contents a little, staring at the liquid for a while before answering. “It was Lucy’s idea, really. She thought a change of scenery might help me.”  
  
His hazel eyes turned soft with concern, which she didn’t see. “Help you?”  
  
She looked up then, and her eyes were just a little wet. “My fiancé, Jonathan, uh . . . He died about eighteen months ago, shortly before we were supposed to get married.”  
  
Vlad’s jaw tightened. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.  
  
She shook her head. “It’s alright. Um. When the teacher exchange program opened up, Lucy--she’s a music teacher back in London, at Clare College--she suggested that I do it. Get away for a while. She was right. It’s been good for me. I almost don’t want to go home.”  
  
“Not to belittle your loss, I’m very sorry for that,” Vlad began, then paused. “Perhaps you were meant to come to Romania.”  
  
She took a big gulp of her wine. “Maybe.” Mina cleared her throat. “Sorry. Maybe I was.”  
  
“No need to apologise.” Vlad smiled gently. “I, too . . . lost my wife.”  
  
“Oh, I’m so sorry! God, what a pair we are!” Mina pushed her wine glass away. “Do you . . . mind if I ask how?”  
  
“Not at all. It’s been long enough that . . . it’s not as difficult. I’m afraid she was murdered. A man came into our home, and . . .” Vlad stopped.  
  
Mina reached across the table and put her hand over his. “That must have been terrible for you. Were you married long?”  
  
“Ten years. Nearly eleven. We married young.” He gave himself a shake. “Anyway. She would be happy I’m not being a recluse.”  
  
That got a smile out of her. “Yes. I think Jonathan wouldn’t want me to wallow, either.”  
  
Seeing that she was finished, Vlad rose and offered her a hand. “Can I walk you home?” he asked.  
  
“Don’t we need to . . . settle the bill?”  
  
His smile was wry. “As I said, I dabble. I know the owner because the owner is me.”  
  
“Oh,” she said, feeling silly. “Um. Yes, I suppose you can.”  
  
Vlad helped her into her coat. It was spring, but there was still a chill in the air. Mina didn’t live far, just a few blocks, and they walked in companionable silence for most of the way.  
  
At her door, he again took her hand. He slipped a business card into it, then kissed her knuckles once more.  
  
“I’d like to see you again, Mina Murray. If you’ll let me.”  
  
Mina ducked her head a little, smiling. “I’d like that.”  
  
“You have my number. Call me when you’re free.”  
  
“I will. Thank you for a lovely evening, Vlad.”  
  
“You are most welcome.”  
  
She turned to unlock the door. “I should be free on Friday.”  
  
“I’ll look forward to your call. Good night, Mina.”  
  
When she turned to say good night, he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**\--Chapter Two--**  
  
The next few days flew by, and yet to Mina, they also seemed to drag. For the first time in what seemed like years, she had something to look forward to, and she couldn't keep her mind off Vlad.  
  
She was in the middle of administering a test to her second-level students when there was a knock at the classroom door, and a courier entered, holding a gigantic bouquet of white roses. It was at least two dozen, and he struggled to navigate the doorway with them.  
  
"Delivery for Ms. Murray," he said, in somewhat broken English.  
  
Mina hurried to take the bouquet from him. "Thank you," she said in Romanian.  
  
He nodded his head and left. Trying to ignore the giggling students, Mina took the bouquet to her desk. The entire classroom filled with the scent of roses.  
  
The card attached read, in a tight but graceful hand, "My dear Mina- Thank you for brightening my evening. I apologise for the tardiness of the roses, but I couldn't decide which flower suited you more. Perhaps next time, I'll send pink." It was signed with a V.  
  
The giggling of the teenagers increased, and she found she was blushing. She scolded the students lightly and resisted the urge to do something stupid, like hug the card. One dinner with the man, and she was acting like the silly teenager she'd never been.  
  
How had he known she loved white roses? Lucky guess, probably.  
  
During her lunch break between classes, she gave into curiosity and looked him up online. Vlad Nicolae did, indeed, own a vineyard. There wasn't much information out there. She was tempted to search for information on his murdered wife--why that bothered her so much, she wasn't sure--but managed to resist. Besides, she didn't know the woman's name, or where Vlad had been living at the time. From the sound of it, he'd travelled a lot and it could have been anywhere.  
  
Instead, she picked up her mobile. She'd programmed Vlad's number in, but had yet to call him. Sheer nerves had kept her from it. He made her palms sweat and her heart race, and that made her feel guilty, because Jonathan had never instilled that in her. Jon Harper had been one of her best friends growing up, and like had developed into love. But it hadn't been passion. There hadn't been a fire there.  
  
With Vlad, there were sparks from the moment she'd met him.  
  
 _Careful_ , a voice in the back of her head warned. _Move too fast and you could get burned._  
  
To hell with _that_. She'd moved slow as sludge with Jon, and look where that had gotten her.  
  
To Vlad, she texted, THANK YOU FOR THE ROSES. THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL. M.  
  
Less than a minute went by before he responded. THEY ARE, BUT YOU FAR SURPASS THEM. V.  
  
FLATTERER. M.  
  
ONLY WHEN NOT THE TRUTH. ARE YOU FREE FRIDAY EVENING? V.  
  
I AM. I HAVE A LATE CLASS BUT SHOULD BE FREE AFTER EIGHT. M.  
  
I CAN MEET YOU ON CAMPUS. V.  
  
She smiled stupidly. She was going to have to call Lucy and spill because she couldn't keep this to herself. Mina replied with where he could meet her.  
  
GOTTA GO. CLASS IN 15. SEE YOU TOMORROW. M.  
  
'TIL THEN. V.  
  


* * *

 

  
On Friday, she took extra care with her appearance. A pretty knee-length skirt of dark blue, a soft matching blouse, and her better jacket, paired with blue pearl earrings and her best heels, completed her outfit. She spent a good fifteen minutes lamenting about the short cut of her hair. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, hacking it off after Jon's death, but now she wished it was long enough to _do_ something with. Ah, well.  
  
Mina was usually a smart dresser, but her students noticed the extra makeup, and that, combined with the flowers she'd received the day before, they teased her about having a romance. They were largely using it as a chance to stretch their English, since many of them took the class in order to fulfil a secondary language requirement.  
  
Her late class ended just shy of eight o'clock, and Mina had to keep herself from flying out the door ahead of the students, she was that anxious to meet up with Vlad.  
  
"I'm an idiot with a crush," she told herself as she locked her office. "But why not? He's attractive, he's apparently got money, and he likes me. And I'm talking to myself."  
  
She hurried out of the building, which wasn't easy in her heels. The campus was dark, and though there were students still milling about, the area where she was was largely deserted.  
  
As she passed between her building and the next, in what was effectively an alley, someone stepped out of the shadows and grabbed her purse.  
  
"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Let go!"  
  
"Give me!" he demanded and tugged harder on the strap.  
  
Her cry of outrage turned into a strangled scream when he pulled out a small pistol.

 

* * *

  
  
Vlad Dracula was a self-sufficient man. He'd had to be, first as a prisoner of the Turks, then as voivode of Wallachia. He had led armies, won wars.  
  
Learning to live an immortal existence without Mirena had been the hardest thing he had done in all of his nearly six hundred years. At least he'd been able to watch over his son from a distance, take out threats to the boy, and later man, before they could endanger Ingeras.  
  
But he'd lost Mirena.  
  
Over the years, the heartache had lessened, but it had never _quite_ let go.  
  
And then he'd run into Mina Murray.  
  
She looked so like his Mirena, it stole his breath. She wasn't her, obviously. His wife had been gone centuries. But still, the memory of her remained bright and clear even after all this time. That was part of his curse. He remembered her face, his son's face, just as clearly as if he'd seen them yesterday.  
  
He knew Mina wasn't Mirena. But he ached to be with her because of the reminder. That she herself was a delight was a bonus, and he hoped to get to know her much better.  
  
As he strode across campus, musing on these things, he heard a scream. He'd heard that cry before, the day he'd lost Mirena.  
  
He'd lost his wife. He'd be damned all over again if he lost Mina, too.  
  
Vlad began to run.


	3. Chapter 3

**\--Chapter Three--**  
  
The pistol came up, and Mina let go of the purse, deciding its contents weren't worth her life. She could get new ID, and her passport was at home. All the thief was going to get was about forty leu, a spare twenty in Euros, and her tampons.  
  
Even as she let go, a flock of birds came rushing down the narrow alley and knocked the thief away. No, not birds. Bats! Mina had never been afraid of the things, but she automatically recoiled from seeing so many of them in one place.  
  
The bats resolved, to Mina's complete and utter astonishment, into Vlad. What on earth?! She was hallucinating. He'd arrived at the same time as the bats, that was all.  
  
Vlad's eyes were black, pupils glowing red, as he lifted the thief with one hand, snarling to reveal fangs. The pitiful human screamed, high and thin, before Vlad dragged him close and bit him.  
  
Mina backed up 'til she hit the nearest wall, and then she found herself sitting on the pavement. The thief's body hit the street, and a gloved hand appeared in her line of sight.  
  
She looked up at Vlad, his blood covered face a picture of remorse and chagrin.  
  
"What the hell _are_ you?" she demanded. Still, she took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.  
  
With his free hand, he wiped blood from his mouth and chin. For a long moment, he didn't speak. Then he sketched a short bow, still holding on to her hand.  
  
"I am Vladislaus Nikolai the Third, Draculea, of the house of Drăculești, of the house of Basarab, called Tepes. And I am a demon."  
  
To the surprise of both, Mina snorted. "No," she said. "Try again."  
  
"Why do you find it hard to believe I am who I say?" he asked, more curious than offended. He bent and retrieved her purse. "You don't seem alarmed that I am a vampire."  
  
Vampire. Yeah, that fit what had just happened. Strangely, she wasn't freaking out. Shock? "You _did_ see me faint a minute ago, didn't you?" She took the offered object and tucked it under her arm.  
  
"You did not faint, you sat down. I doubt you lost consciousness for even a second." It was his turn for amusement. "Why are you so collected?"  
  
Mina took a moment to think about that. "I've always believed there are things out there. Ghosts and such. And you're obviously _something_. Given that you were bats, and then you . . ."  
  
They both looked at the corpse, and Vlad put his hand to her back to guide her away.  
  
"So a vampire, I can believe. But I don't believe you're Dracula."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
She gave him a look. "Vlad--if that's actually your name--I'm familiar with the legends. Vlad the Impaler died in the fifteenth century."  
  
"In a manner of speaking, I did."  
  
"But he was buried at Comana Monastery."  
  
"Clearly, I'm not."  
  
How they'd ended up arguing over this, when he'd just been a flock of bats, Mina wasn't sure. But she was steadier than she'd been, and oddly, not at all frightened of the man at her side. Common sense said that she should be.  
  
Something, though, told her that Vlad would never hurt her, even if he was deluded about his identity.  
  
Then again . . .  
  
"You don't look like the portrait of Dracula."  
  
Vlad made a face. "No. That was a horrendous painting, done a century after I, ah, supposedly died."  
  
"Nice save," she said darkly. "Do you have an answer for everything?"  
  
"Given that I _am_ Dracula, yes."  
  
"Are you always this much of a smart arse?"  
  
He snorted. "Come. I think we need to talk. And the further we are from . . . this incident, the better."

 

* * *

 

  
  
They found a coffee shop and took a booth at the back. Vlad sipped at the coffee, enjoying the taste, but it didn't do anything for the thirst he kept tightly reined. He was all-too-aware of Mina's pulse as he told her the story of the Turks' invasion, and his deal with the nameless vampire on Broken Tooth Mountain.  
  
But he didn't tell her about Mirena.  
  
Even with Mina's striking resemblance to his dead wife, or perhaps because of it, he couldn't tell her of his wife's death. Not how she'd really died. Not how he'd failed to save her.  
  
Mirena had always told him he was a terrible liar, which is why it amused and bemused him so much that Mina thought he was lying to her. He couldn't lie to save his life, and she didn't believe him.  
  
"Shkelgim found me on the battlefield, dragged me to safety, and revived me with his blood. He took care of me even though I wanted to die. I even begged him, but he wouldn't let me and I was too weak to fight him. By the time I'd recovered . . . I'd realised I could look after my son and protect him."  
  
Mina listened in silence, skepticism written across her pretty features. But that lessened the more he spoke, and by the time he reached the end of his tale, the skepticism had been replaced by empathy.  
  
"That must have been so difficult."  
  
"It was what it was." He shrugged. "Since then, I've . . . tried to keep a low profile. I reinvent myself every so often to avoid suspicion."  
  
Mina cocked her head and studied him. "You really are him, aren't you?"  
  
"I lie when necessary, but I'm not fond of it. And I want to be honest with you, Mina."  
  
"You know, most men I've gone out with have had secrets, but they've been things like 'I cheat on my taxes' or 'I'm married and have two mistresses besides you'. Not 'I'm an immortal who used to rule the area we're presently in'."  
  
Vlad sighed. "Do you know how much of a relief it is to be able to speak to someone about this? I haven't told a human what I am since . . ."  
  
He trailed off, realising the last time he'd really spoken to anyone about what he'd done, and why, had been with Mirena just two days before her death.  
  
"Since?"  
  
"My wife," he said. "Not long before she died."  
  
"Was she killed by the Turks? I don't mean to be insensitive, but there's a legend about Vlad Tepes's wife throwing herself into a river . . ."  
  
"She fell," he said tersely.  
  
Sensing that it was off-limits, Mina said, "Okay. So . . . Now what?"  
  
"That depends on you. I would still very much like to spend time with you. But if you . . . aren't comfortable with me, I understand."  
  
"That's what's surprising me the most," she told him. "I'm . . . fine."  
  
His Mirena had been taken aback at first, but she, too, had largely taken what he was in stride. It had been she who had offered her blood so he could defeat the Turks and get Ingeras back. So it didn't surprise Vlad a whole lot that Mina was so accepting, too.  
  
"I would think a modern woman would have a difficult time accepting my story."  
  
"You were bats, Vlad. That's a little hard to deny." She gestured to his coffee. "So you can eat and drink things other than . . .?"  
  
He nodded. "In small amounts. They don't provide me any sustenance, but I can eat."  
  
Mina seemed fascinated. "Are you undead, or . . .?"  
  
"I'm not certain. I heal quickly. I have incredible strength and speed. I can control and sense all creatures of the night." He sipped again at his coffee and shrugged. "I cannot stand the sun, or silver, but crosses do not bother me."  
  
"Garlic?"  
  
"A lovely herb, but no, it does not affect me."  
  
She played with a little paper packet of sugar, her red nails bright against the white paper. Vlad found himself entranced by her hands.  
  
"What about . . . stakes?"  
  
"Unfortunately true. And ironic for me."  
  
Mina frowned. "Did you really do those things?" she asked, obviously referring to the impalements.  
  
"Some. Not all. I never ate among the bodies, and I didn't litter the outside of my castle with them." Vlad paused, thought that over. "Except when they attacked and I left them for Mehmed. But I did have a reputation."  
  
She finally tore the packet open and stirred the contents into her coffee. "You're not like that now, though, are you?"  
  
Vlad gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I haven't had to in centuries, Mina. I'm . . . merely a man. A cursed one, perhaps, but a man. Not a prince. Not even a count."  
  
He drained his coffee. "If you're not going to drink that, since you've now made it sweeter than candy, let me take you home."

 


	4. Chapter 4

**\--Chapter Four--**  
  
  
This time, when Mina unlocked the door to her flat, Vlad stayed long enough for her to invite him in. He accepted, and turned his attention to her rather spartan accommodations.  
  
"Do you need an invitation to enter a house?" she asked, as she closed the door.  
  
"No. That, too, is a myth. I only know of one of my kind who was bound by a threshold, and that is the one who created me."  
  
Vlad put his hand to his shoulder and fingered a hole in his coat. "Oh," he said.  
  
"What is it?" Mina saw the hole, knew immediately what it was. "Why didn't you tell me you were shot?"  
  
"I didn't notice?"  
  
Without waiting for his permission, Mina tugged at his coat and shirt, removing first one, then the other, to have a look. It had healed, but the lead bullet was an obvious lump against his collarbone.  
  
"You need that out," she said. "You weren't kidding about healing quickly, were you?"  
  
Vlad shrugged. "It was healed within seconds. I truly did not notice until just now."  
  
She made a derisive noise. "That must be nice, to be able to ignore being _shot_."  
  
"I was more concerned for your safety," he reminded her.  
  
Mina sobered at the reminder. "I'll be right back."  
  
She hurried to her apartment's small kitchen and retrieved a hand towel and a small, sharp knife. She wasn't looking forward to performing surgery on a vampire, but it was in a difficult position for him to get himself. How her evening had gone from expecting a nice dinner date to this . . .  
  
She returned in moments to find Vlad looking at the handful of photos she had on her mantel. He held up the one picture of Jonathan she'd brought with her.  
  
"Is this your fiancé?" he asked, turning as she came back in.  
  
"Yes, that's Jon. That picture was taken not long before he died." She swallowed past the lump in her throat. Speaking of Jon to Vlad felt wrong. Not because she was betraying Jon's memory or anything, but because she didn't want to give Vlad the wrong impression. She was still very much interested in the man, vampire though he might be.  
  
Mina gestured to the sofa. "Have a seat, and we'll get that bullet out."  
  
It was quick work, just a slice and a push of her fingers and the little lead lump popped out. He healed before she'd even got a good grip on the thing with her hand towel, and there was only a trickle of blood.  
  
"Handy, that," she commented.  
  
"It can be."  
  
She ran her fingers over the spot where the bullet had been. There was no sign he'd ever been shot.  
  
His chest, she noticed, was covered with crisp, dark hair. Not enough to be fur, but certainly more than Jonathan had had. When Vlad caught her hand, she realised she'd been trailing her finger down, over his chest.  
  
Mina looked up to apologise for being so bold, but found him staring at her mouth. Her lips parted, but she had nothing to say in response to the expression on his face.  
  
All at once, he reached out, gathered her close, and lowered his mouth to hers for the most searing kiss she'd ever experienced.  
  
She tossed the knife on the floor and buried her fingers in his dark hair, kissing him with equal fervour. It was even more passionate than she'd imagined, especially when he hauled her into his lap.  
  
"Vlad," she breathed against his mouth, and he groaned.  
  
"Make me stop, Mina," he growled.  
  
"Why?"  
  
She had no idea why she was so eager for this. Mina had never felt so swept away in her life. And kissing Vlad felt right, more right than anything else ever had. She didn't _want_ to stop.  
  
Vlad pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. "Mina," he murmured. "I don't want to rush you."  
  
Sighing, she slid off his lap. "I don't feel it's rushing anything. I know you feel . . . something."  
  
He caught her hand, kissed her palm. "I want you more than you can know," he whispered. "But not yet."  
  
She'd never felt so frustrated. Every nerve cried out for him. Mina almost felt like she knew what it was like to make love with him, just as she felt she'd known him forever.  
  
"I want it to be right, _iubita mea_ ," he told her. "Not rushed like this."  
  
"I understand. Can't say I'm happy about it, but I understand."  
  
Vlad laughed. "I will make it worth the wait."  
  
"You had better, because I'm not . . . prone to throwing myself at men."  
  
"I should leave," he said. He retrieved his shirt from the sofa and put it on, bullet hole and all. "Lock your door behind me, Mina."  
  
She rose when he did, and followed him to the door. "One of these times, we'll have a date that doesn't involve bloodshed," she joked.  
  
He quirked a smile. "The next one, I promise."  
  
Then he left, and Mina stood for a moment by the locked door.  
  
After an eternity's debate, she went to take a cold shower.

 

* * *

 

  
  
In the aftermath of the mugging, Mina decided she needed to take a self defence class. There was one offered on campus, and she enrolled in it on Monday. There was talk on campus about the body that had been found with its throat ripped out on Friday night. Mina tried to ignore the talk as she conducted her classes, but it was difficult. She kept flashing back to the moment when Vlad had bitten the man.  
  
A single red rose arrived for her at lunch time. The card said, simply, "Missing you. V."  
  
It turned out that the self defence class was good for getting rid of pent up sexual frustration, too. And she had a lot of that at present. No man had ever affected her the way Vlad did. Even knowing he was Vlad the bloody Impaler did nothing to assuage the need for him that had been sparked in her.  
  
When Mina left that evening's self defence class, she saw Vlad was waiting for her. She smiled broadly at the sight of him.  
  
"This is a nice surprise. How did you find me?" she asked.  
  
"I asked for directions." He offered his arm. She happily took it.  
  
"I should be grading papers tonight," she told him. "I think you have other plans, though."  
  
He led her out to the parking lot, where a sleek black car waited. "You need dinner," he pointed out. "And I wanted to make up for Friday."  
  
"There's no need to make up for _all_ of Friday," she said coyly. "Some parts were rather enjoyable."  
  
Mina didn't mind that he opened the car door for her. His chivalry wasn't an affectation. It was simply the way Vlad was. She climbed in, and he closed the door after her.  
  
"I had to throw away the purse," she told him as he got in the car. "There was blood on it."  
  
"I'll get you a new one," he said.  
  
"There's no need-"  
  
"I ruined your purse," he told her firmly. "I'll get you a new one."  
  
She knew not to argue. It was the same tone he'd used when talking about his wife's death. If he wanted to replace the purse, fine. He obviously had the money to, judging from the car.  
  
"This is a nice car," she said, changing the subject.  
  
"Thank you. I don't usually have need of it, but I thought tonight we'd go a little afield."  
  
"Oh? Where are we going?"  
  
"You'll see."  
  
Vlad's control of the car was smooth and practised. He'd probably been driving the vehicles since their invention, Mina mused, which was an odd thought. If he'd been born in 1431, he was well over five hundred and eighty years old. He'd seen the invention of so many things. And yet, he didn't look any older than his mid-thirties.  
  
They drove through the dark city, and out into the countryside. Vlad took the 71 north, and Mina realised they were going to Târgoviște, and likely to his vineyard.  
  
They way Vlad drove, it took less than an hour to get to the vineyard. There wasn't much to see at night, but there was a pleasant old house set in the middle of the property, away from the wine processing facility itself.  
  
"Is this where you live?" Mina asked, of the house, as they drove up.  
  
"Primarily. I keep a loft in the city, but yes, this is my residence."  
  
The house was two stories, built of stone, with balconies and an upper gallery, and a central turret with windows open to the elements. Mina instantly fell in love with it.  
  
"It's lovely," she told him.  
  
"It's a far cry from the castle I lived in," he said, gazing through the windshield at his home. "But it suits my needs."  
  
He got out of the car and came around to Mina's. As she stepped out, she had a good look around the small courtyard. "You've got an orchard, too."  
  
"Just a few trees. Most of the acreage is devoted to the wine grapes, but there's also a garden out back. Come, let me give you a tour."  
  
She took his offered hand and followed him into the manor house.  



	5. Chapter 5

**\--Chapter Five--**  
  
The house wasn't overly large, having been built when rooms were smaller, but Mina loved it. The one room he hadn't shown her was the master bedroom, and she had all kinds of mental images and questions about the place where he slept.  
  
"Okay, I have more questions," she said.  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"  
  
"Do you have to sleep in a coffin? Or in dirt?"  
  
Vlad snorted a laugh. "No! I have bed curtains to keep out the sun, but I do, in fact, sleep in a bed."  
  
"Do you have servants?"  
  
"A housekeeper. Her family has been in service to me for a very long time. She knows what I am and is part of my daytime protection." Vlad led Mina to the kitchen. "She's also an excellent cook and made us something to reheat."  
  
Mina, out of curiosity, opened the fridge. "Do you even know how to cook, since you don't need to?"  
  
". . . I can roast a pig."  
  
She glanced at him over her shoulder, with a grin. "You're useless, I tell you."  
  
He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her back against him. "I have my uses," he said against her ear.  
  
Mina shuddered and wrapped her hands around his. "Are you going to show me, or are you all talk?"  
  
Vlad scraped his teeth, normal human teeth, against the side of her neck, just under her jaw. "Surely you want dinner first."  
  
She made a suggestion as to what he could do with dinner, and Vlad chuckled. He spun her in his arms and backed her against the fridge door, mouth slanting over hers hungrily.  
  
Mina snaked her arms up and around his neck. She was nearly dizzy with need.  
  
Smelling her desire like a heady perfume, Vlad swept her up in his arms and carried her through the house and up the stairs to his bedroom.  
  
He'd done the room up in reds and golds, his personal colours, and the drapes on the bed reflected that taste in deep, rich velvets. The carpet was thick under their feet, protection against the stone floor.  
  
He set Mina down and locked the door. She barely had eyes for anything but him. Vlad backed her to the bed, shedding his shirt on the way.  
  
Her fingers caught in his waistband, pulling him close as she rose on her toes to kiss him. He embraced her, holding her tight to him. He couldn't get enough of the taste of her, of the way she smelled. Turning down what she so freely offered had nearly unmanned him the other night.  
  
"Vlad," she breathed, as she broke the kiss. "I need you."  
  
He buried the long fingers of his left hand in her hair as he kissed the side of her neck, his other hand snaking under her shirt. Mina mewled, her fingers sliding over his chest.  
  
"Please," she begged.  
  
"Anything, my Mina," he swore, and kissed her again.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Vlad took his time stripping them both to the skin. He wanted to rip off their clothes and take her, but he'd promised he'd make this worth the admittedly short wait.  
  
He wanted to memorize every inch of her, to taste her and discover all the things that drove her mad.  
  
Her breasts were higher, more pert than Mirena's had been, but then, Mina hadn't carried or nursed a child. He vividly remembered the way his wife's body had swelled with their child, and wished he could give Mina the same.  
  
Vlad turned his thoughts from that and bent a head to one pink nipple. He licked the hard tip before sucking it between his lips.  
  
"Just don't bite me," she breathed.  
  
He gave a hard shudder and shook his head. "Never. I would never hurt you, Mina."  
  
Not like he'd hurt Mirena.  
  
Sprawled against the velvet coverlet, she looked so like his Mirena that it hurt. Vlad took a moment to compose himself, aching with desire for her but afraid it was all a dream.  
  
He explored every inch of her with mouth and hands, learning all her secrets as she gasped and moaned beneath him. Most places were where he expected, but a few surprised him. Her neck was a big turn-on for Mina, apparently; when he nipped at the nape of her neck, when he had her on her knees, she moaned and pushed back against him in a way that surprised him.  
  
At last, he knelt over her, pleased that she lay flushed and heated beneath him. She used the leather cord around his neck, from which hung a small leather pouch, to pull him down. His was a welcome weight against her, his body hard and lean, fitting with hers in all the right ways.  
  
Without a word or hesitation, he thrust into her. Mina arched off the bed with a wordless cry, drawing her legs up to tighten them around his hips.  
  
"More," she demanded.  
  
"I don't want to hurt you."  
  
"You won't. I trust you." She levered up to kiss him, tugging at his bottom lip with her teeth. "Please."  
  
He thrust harder, and Mina made a pleased sound, gasping against his mouth as he hit a spot she liked.  
  
Then she surprised him by flipping him to his back. He'd been dislodged in the move, and Mina sank down on his erection, her eyes fluttering shut as she did. Vlad thought she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, as she rolled her hips, rising and falling over him.  
  
When she bent to kiss him, he took control back and rolled them over, driving hard into her. He'd wanted to make love to her, but he couldn't hold back five centuries of need.  
  
It wasn't long before she was falling apart under him, crying his name as she climaxed. He growled and rocked against her, the sight of her pleasure what he needed to reach that peak.  
  
Still buried within her, Vlad rolled to his side, holding Mina close. She slung her leg over his hips and sighed, nuzzling her face against his neck.  
  
She mumbled something. Vlad brushed a stray lock of short blonde hair off her cheek. "What was that?"  
  
"Mmm. Better than last time," she said.  
  
Vlad froze. Better than what last time? But when he asked this, she didn't respond, for she was fast asleep.  


* * *

 

  
Mina woke, shivering against the cold, and reached for the blanket she'd kicked off during the night. Before she could get it, Vlad was there, wrapping her in it even as he tugged her against him. As his arms enfolded her, pulling her back against his chest, she gave a happy sigh.  
  
"What time is it?" she asked.  
  
He glanced towards the window. "There's some time 'til dawn. I should drive you back. I'm afraid we've once again missed dinner."  
  
She turned in his arms. "This was better than dinner. Much, much better."  
  
Vlad slid a hand over the curve of her hip. "Before you fell asleep, you said something that puzzled me."  
  
"I don't remember saying anything, but you rather wore me out." She grinned. "What did I say?"  
  
"That it was better than last time."  
  
Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Maybe I meant Friday? I really don't remember saying anything."  
  
He shrugged a shoulder. "No matter. I think we've enough time to get some food in you before I have to take you back to Bucharest."  
  
"That requires moving," she complained.  
  
"I'd bring it to you here," he told her as he sat up, "but I'm afraid I don't know how to use the oven."  
  
She laughed and stretched. "Have you never had someone stay with you?"  
  
"You're the first," he said. "I've had . . . lovers over the years, but you're the first woman I've brought to my home."  
  
That gave her pause. "Oh."  
  
"That alarms you, when my being a vampire doesn't?"  
  
Mina shook her head. "I'm not alarmed, just surprised. And flattered."  
  
He slid from the bed and walked in the buff over to a wardrobe. Mina enjoyed the view from where she reclined on the bed. His muscular body was free from scars. Noticing that tickled the back of her memory, but it was elusive enough that she couldn't grasp it.  
  
As she sat up, Vlad retrieved a long, maroon silk robe from the wardrobe. He tossed it to her and bent to fetch his pants from the floor.  
  
Mina wrapped the borrowed robe around her as she left the bed. "How often do you, ah . . . feed?"  
  
He glanced towards the window. "I should feed tonight. In fact, if you'd like to warm up some food while I take care of that . . .?"  
  
She tightened the sash around her waist, but the robe was too big and gaped over her breasts. Since they were the only ones in the house, she didn't care. "I suppose that works. I don't need to know your . . . habits. Just that you're careful."  
  
"Always."  
  
He opened the balcony door. "I'll be back soon," he told her, and disappeared out the open window in a flurry of bats.  
  
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," Mina said aloud. She wandered over and closed the window, but didn't latch it.  
  
It was close to two in the morning, she saw when she entered the kitchen. Plenty of time to eat before Vlad drove her home. And, unfortunately, she _did_ need to go home, because she had school in the morning.  
  
She warmed the oven, and found the prepared food in the fridge. Vlad walked in as she was pulling the reheated meal out of the oven.  
  
"You are beautiful," he told her.  
  
Mina blushed, a little surprised that his words made her do it and all the things they'd done to each other earlier had not. "Did you want some of this . . .?" she asked.  
  
He held up a hand. "I'll have some wine, but only that, thank you."  
  
While he fetched a bottle of his vineyard's product, Mina found a plate and utensils and set the small table.  
  
"Does your housekeeper live in the little house across the courtyard?" she asked.  
  
"She does. She and her daughter." He poured them each a glass of white wine and set the bottle on the table between them.  
  
Mina, curiously, picked up the bottle. "'Mirena'," she read aloud. "That's pretty."  
  
Vlad took the bottle from her and turned it in his hands. "I've named all of my wines," he told her. "This was the first variety. The red is 'Ilona'. The champagne is 'Troian'. So far, those are all we make here."  
  
"Is winemaking something you enjoy?"  
  
He shrugged. "Not particularly. I bought it because it was available in the 1950s. So far, I have pretended to be my father and my grandfather. One day, I'll pretend to be my son. It gets a bit tedious, but no one pays much attention to it, really."  
  
"Why not sell?"  
  
"It makes a fair amount of money, and I like the house." Vlad took a sip of his wine. "I have a valued staff at the winery that overlook my odd hours, and an accountant that helps me tend my funds."  
  
"What do you _do_ with all your time?"  
  
He offered her more wine, which she declined. "I read, mostly. I love books. In my day, books were handwritten and very rare. We largely had scrolls. Now, I have my library as well as several thousand books on this lovely device called a 'Kindle'. I've learned seven languages in addition to the Romanian, Latin, Slavic, and Turkish I learned growing up."  
  
She was fascinated. "Like what?"  
  
Vlad tipped his head as he thought. "I'm fluent in Welsh, French, Italian, German, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin, and English, obviously."  
  
Mina grinned. "Why Welsh, of all things?"  
  
"The challenge, mostly."  
  
She finished eating and took her plate to the sink, where she washed it off. When she looked for a dishwasher, she found none.  
  
"Sveta washes all dishes by hand," Vlad said. "Even when I have a dinner party with clients. Just leave it in the sink."  
  
Leaving it where instructed, Mina returned to his bedroom and redressed for the drive back to Bucharest. She looked up at a sound near the door and found Vlad watching her, a peculiar expression on his face.  
  
"Is something wrong?" she asked.  
  
"No, nothing."  
  
"You're a terrible liar, you know," she said, with a little smile.  
  
He winced, just for a second, but Mina caught it. "What? What did I say?"  
  
Vlad shook his head. "Another time, perhaps."  
  
The drive back was oddly silent; Vlad was obviously consumed by thoughts he wouldn't share with her. She hoped that didn't mean he'd used her and was through with her. She didn't think she could handle that.  
  
"Is everything alright?" she asked, when he pulled up to her building.  
  
"Fine," he assured her. "It's fine. I just remembered something. I may be unavailable for the next day or two. But cfall me if you need anything, Mina."  
  
"I will." She opened the door by herself, and slipped out of the car. "And Vlad? Thank you for tonight."  
  
"You're very welcome, Mina. Good night, _iubita mea_."  
  
As he drove away, Mina had the oddest feeling that everything had changed forever, and she wasn't sure how.


	6. Chapter 6

**\--Chapter Six--**  
  
His car had enough tinting in the windows that Vlad could drive it during the day and not be worried about the sun. That, and the attached garages at both his home and his loft meant he could travel when and where he needed with little trouble.  
  
After leaving Mina at her apartment, he pointed the car north, up into the Carpathian mountains. He drove beyond sun-up, until he reached the end of the road and had to get out. Using his arcane powers, he pulled cloud cover until he was able to walk out in the open, under the cover of dark and roiling clouds.  
  
At the foot of a tall cliff, Vlad transformed into bats to fly up the hundreds of feet to the long-abandoned monastery perched at the top.  
  
It was here, so many years ago, that he lost his beloved Mirena.'  
  
It was here that she had been buried, in the small crypt just off the tiny chapel. Disused for centuries, the place was mouldering and dusty, but sturdy enough to still be standing.  
  
He found her crypt easily, the marble plaque the one clean surface in the whole monastery. He visited often, and had worn a groove with his touch, over the intervening years, under the inscription that read, simply, "Mirena Drăculești".  
  
"I miss you," he told her softly. "So much. I wish every day that you were beside me."  
  
Vlad sank to the floor and stared at his wife's resting place. "I know it's been centuries, my love. You would not blame me for moving on. But part of me feels I'm betraying you with Mina. Even though . . . I wish she were you, come back to me. Is that wrong of me? I think I'm falling in love with her, Mirena. Tell me, dearest, what I should do."  
  
But there was no answer from Mirena's ghost.  
  
He hadn't expected one. Even as a vampire, he wasn't _that_ superstitious.

 

* * *

  
  
On Tuesday, Mina’s class was interrupted once more, this time by the local law enforcement. They had learned she had a class that let out shortly before the time of the murder the previous Friday.  
  
“I’m afraid I didn’t see anything,” she told them apologetically. “I let my class out a few minutes early, and then my boyfriend came to pick me up. We’d probably left campus by the time it happened.”  
  
“And who is your boyfriend?”  
  
“Vlad Nicolae.”  
  
The police exchanged looks. Obviously, they’d heard of him.  
  
“We will be contacting him to verify,” the plainclothes investigator said. “Thank you for your time, Miss Murray.”  
  
“Before you go, I just have a question,” she heard herself say. “Is it true his throat was ripped out?”  
  
“Not entirely.”  
  
“What could have done that? A wild animal?”  
  
The inspector’s face was grim. “They were human teeth, Miss Murray. No animal did this. A human monster is responsible.”  
  
They left Mina feeling ill and worried.  
  


* * *

 

  
Days passed, and Mina didn't hear from Vlad. She texted him a few times, but gave up when she got no response. It shouldn't have hurt so much, but she'd fallen hard for the man, and his seemingly curt ending of things was an open wound.  
  
Her students noticed her sudden melancholy, and behaved themselves in her classes for the next week. She would have appreciated it if she hadn't been so depressed.  
  
It didn't help that her sleep was bothered by dreams she didn't remember when she woke, beyond a yearning for Vlad disproportionate to the length of their relationship. As each day passed, the want grew, and so did her anger.  
  
"A day or two, my arse," she muttered to herself, as she fixed tea in her apartment, after an evening of grading exams. "Why did I believe him?"  
  
The doorbell rang. She started, nearly spilling her tea. Who could it be at this hour? Her traitorous heart skipped at the thought that it could be Vlad.  
  
She left the tea on the kitchen counter and padded on bare feet to the door, which she yanked open.  
  
A huge bouquet of pink roses and peonies greeted her. She blinked as the mass of flowers lowered, revealing a remorseful Vlad.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said, "for my absence. Forgive me?"  
  
Mina smiled brilliantly, anger flowing away at the sight of him. She shouldn't forgive him so easily, and yet, she couldn't stay mad. "Of course!"  
  
She backed up and let him bring the flowers in. He set them on the table and pulled her into his arms.  
  
"I should have replied," he said. "I was . . . working through some things."  
  
Suddenly, it all made sense. "Her name was Mirena, wasn't it?"  
  
"How-"  
  
"You named your first wine something significant," Mina said. "Not something random."  
  
Vlad swallowed, then nodded. "Yes. Her name was Mirena."  
  
"I'm not upset that you still love her," she told him softly. "I think it's incredibly romantic that you do. But I'm . . . hoping that there's room for me."  
  
He cupped her face in his hands. "That's why I was gone so long, my Mina. I needed to make peace with this."  
  
"This?" she repeated.  
  
"Us. That I am . . . I don't want to scare you, Mina, but I am falling in love with you. I feel so strongly about you."  
  
She curled her fingers in his dark red shirt. "It's completely crazy, but I feel the same," she whispered. "I feel like I've known you forever."  
  
Vlad dipped his head and kissed her, slow and sweet. "Mina."  
  
"Am I crazy?" she asked.  
  
"If you are, then I am, as well."  
  
She slipped out of his arms and went to smell the roses. “You know, if you keep giving me flowers, I’m going to run out of places to put them.”  
  
“Noted,” he said with a smile. “Doesn’t modern theory hold that I’m supposed to give you something every time I, what’s the word, ‘screw up’?”  
  
Mina laughed softly. “I don’t need flowers or gifts, Vlad. Apologies will do.”  
  
She picked up her mobile and said, "Hold still for a second, I want a picture of us. If I can. You show up in pictures, right? I mean, I've heard vampires don't . . ."  
  
"I do, and I even have a reflection. Most legends are full of shit."  
  
She laughed, almost shook too much to snap the picture. "You should wear red more. It's a good look on you."  
  
Mina set the phone down, gave him a coy look. “But, it would look better on my floor.”  
  
He grinned. “Would it? Let’s see if it does.”


	7. Chapter 7

**\--Chapter Seven--**  
  
Vlad left shortly before dawn, to seek refuge at his loft apartment. Mina had tried to get him to stay, but her apartment wasn’t very light-proof and wasn’t very safe for him.  
  
She had her late class again, but the morning ones had been rescheduled because of some mandatory student meetings. Mina didn’t have to be on campus ‘til after noon, so she was able to sleep in a bit and get to some things around the apartment.  
  
Mina was contemplating lunch when the doorbell rang. Mina flashed back to the night before, when Vlad had dropped by, but it couldn’t be him; it was the middle of the day.  
  
She opened the door. To her surprise, her best friend stood on the threshold, her red hair piled high and sunglasses in place.  
  
"Mina!" Lucy Westenra squealed, and hugged her.  
  
"Lucy," Mina managed to squeak, "what are you doing here?"  
  
Lucy released Mina and eyed her unstylish friend. "I had the weekend and decided to come see you here in the middle of nowhere."  
  
"Bucharest isn't the middle of nowhere," Mina protested.  
  
Lucy's gaze fell on the new picture of Vlad that Mina’d just put on the mantel and she scooped it up. "And who is _this_?" she cooed. "He's cute."  
  
Mina resisted the urge to snatch it back. "That's, uh . . . That would be Vlad."  
  
Red eyebrows lifted nearly to Lucy's hairline. "Vlad? Why haven't you mentioned this Vlad?"  
  
Shrugging, Mina blushed. "It's new. We've been out a few times. He owns a vineyard."  
  
She took the picture back and set it back on the mantel. Just a few hours and she missed him so much. How had she become so infatuated? No, she wasn’t just infatuated. She was, somehow, in love.  
  
Lucy was like a shark sensing blood. "Aaaaand? Where did you meet him?"  
  
"We met at the street market. I was buying flowers, he said they were pretty." Really, though, he'd been saying _she_ was pretty, and Mina smiled at the memory. "His name is Vlad Nicolae. He's a businessman, and he owns a few properties around the city."  
  
“Fascinating. C’mon. Let’s go to lunch and we can catch up!”  
  
Mina grabbed her mobile and her briefcase, and let Lucy drag her out the door.

 

* * *

 

  
  
"Oh, did I tell you I'm engaged?" Lucy asked.  
  
Mina arched a brow. "Last I heard, you were juggling three men. Which one did you decide to sink your claws into?"  
  
Her best friend laughed. "I haven't seen John or Quin in ages. Arthur asked me to marry him a few days ago."  
  
"The son of Lord Godalming? Does that mean I'll have to refer to you as Lady Lucy someday?"  
  
"Someday, yes!"  
  
"Hmmm." Mina smiled, but inwardly, she was thinking of Vlad, and who he'd been once. Prince Vlad. Any woman who married *him* would have been a princess. "Beats the wife of a real estate solicitor."  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't think-"  
  
Mina held up a hand. "It's alright, Lucy. Jon died a long time ago, and I'm . . . moving on."  
  
"To someone much more attractive," Lucy put in. "When do I get to meet him? You know I've got to meet him and see if I approve or not."  
  
Mentally, Mina bristled at the idea that she needed Lucy's approval. Outwardly, she smiled and said, "We're having dinner tonight at a restaurant he owns. I'll text him, see if he minds me dragging you along."  
  
She pulled out her mobile while Lucy began telling her about what dates she and Arthur were debating for their wedding.  
  
MY BEST FRIEND LUCY IS IN TOWN FOR SURPRISE VISIT. M.  
  
FOR HOW LONG? WILL SHE BE STAYING AT YOUR FLAT? V.  
  
THE WEEKEND? I'M ASSUMING SO. SHE WANTS TO MEET YOU. M.  
  
His resignation was almost a palpable thing, even over text. BRING HER ALONG TONIGHT. V.  
  
"Mina? Are you paying attention?"  
  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
  
Lucy eyed her critically. "You have it bad, if just a text conversation with him puts that look on your face."  
  
Grinning, Mina said, "I suppose I do. He's wonderful, Lucy."  
  
"Wonderful as in a genuinely decent guy, or wonderful as in rich?"  
  
"You know I don't care about money, Lu."  
  
"Which tells me he's rich. He'd have to be, to own a restaurant or two and a vineyard." Lucy leered. "Is he wonderful in all areas?"  
  
"Lucy!"  


* * *

 

  
Mina didn't have enough time to change after her late class into something nice, so she'd dressed up a bit for class. The students noticed, and one girl asked if she was feeling better. Mina was pleased with the dark red dress she'd chosen, and hoped that Vlad liked it, too.  
  
She met Lucy--who had spent the day sightseeing--at her apartment, and they took a cab to Vlad's more public restaurant. Vlad already had a table reserved. The women were ushered right in, and met Vlad at the table.  
  
He rose and introductions were made. Vlad did the hand kiss thing with Lucy, which made her giggle, but he made it seem perfunctory with her, and not the intimacy it was with Mina. He helped them both into their chairs, lingering with his hands on Mina's shoulders.  
  
"You are lovely tonight," he told her.  
  
"Thank you. I see you took my advice about the red, yourself," she said with a smile, for he wore a deep red shirt with a high collar.  
  
"I've always preferred it, but I fell into the habit of black."  
  
Lucy leaned forward in her chair. "So you own this place?"  
  
"It's one of a few establishments I've invested in," he said. "Mina tells me you were raised together."  
  
Her best friend nodded. The redhead looked stunning in turquoise blue. "Mina's mum was my mother's best friend in school. When Mum found that her friend had left behind a daughter that was floating around the system, she raised hell to find her and bring her to live with us. You were how old, Mina?"  
  
"I think I was five?"  
  
Vlad reached over for Mina's hand. "You are so lucky, to have such a generous family as friends to take you in."  
  
"Believe me, I know how lucky I am. Anyway, Lucy here was four, and she resented me coming to live with them because she didn't want to share her toys."  
  
Lucy laughed. "I really didn't! I was a bit of a snot as a child."  
  
Mina turned her hand over in Vlad's and laced her fingers through his. It seemed so familiar, so comforting, holding his hand.  
  
They ordered, Mina choosing an Italian option while Lucy opted for more regional fare with something to do with eggplants. Vlad ordered a small, rare steak.  
  
"This wine is excellent," Lucy said, of the red she'd ordered.  
  
"Thank you. It comes from my own vineyard," Vlad told her. "It's a very old variety, rumoured to have been brought to Romania by the Turks."  
  
Mina gave Vlad a sidelong glance, wondering if the grapes on his vineyard really were the same age as him.  
  
Lucy leaned over to Mina. "I've never seen a man look at you the way he does. Not even Jon."  
  
"What look?" Mina whispered.  
  
"Like you're his everything."  
  
Aware that Vlad could hear the conversation perfectly well, Mina glanced his way. He didn't bother to change his expression or pretend he wasn't listening, and Lucy was right: the intensity there was incredible.  
  
It had been two weeks since she'd met Vlad, but it felt like so much longer. That their feelings for each other were so strong should have scared her, but it didn't. She should have run screaming from knowing who and what he was, but Mina wanted him anyway.  
  
One corner of Vlad's mouth quirked up. Mina returned the smile.  
  
Lucy exhaled in mock disgust, making the candles on the table gutter and leap.  
  
 _"Vlad! He is your prince!  Please! He has earned the chance to explain! He is your prince! He was only trying to save us all! Vlad!"_  
  
Mina jerked, nearly spilling her wine. Her hand shook as she put the glass down. "Excuse me," she mumbled, and rose unsteadily from the table. "I, uh . . ."  
  
Lucy and Vlad both watched her go with concern and puzzlement. She hurried through the restaurant to the ladies' room, where she wet a cloth hand towel and used it to pat her face.  
  
What the hell had that been? she wondered. She hadn't felt that kind of sheer panic since the night Jon died, when a drunk driver had hit his cab, killing him and the cabbie nearly instantly.  
  
The door to the restroom opened and Lucy came in. "Mina? Are you alright?"  
  
"Fine!" she yelped. "Fine!"  
  
"No, you're not. What's wrong?"  
  
"Okay, okay. I had a flashback to the night Jon died," she lied. "I just needed some air."  
  
Lucy hugged her quickly. "If you're not ready, maybe you should slow things down with Vlad."  
  
"No, it's . . . not that. It was more . . . I couldn't handle it if I lost him the way I lost Jon."  
  
"Ohhh." Lucy nodded in understanding. "Okay. Well, you might want to get back out there to Prince Charming. He's a bit worried at your sudden exit."  



	8. Chapter 8

**\--Chapter Eight--**  
  
After dinner, Vlad and Mina saw Lucy home to Mina's apartment. Her friend made a few off-colour remarks about where Mina would be spending the night, but Mina didn't care. She had been expecting alone time with Vlad, and even her best friend's visit wasn't going to stop her. Fortunately, Lucy just winked and made her way into Mina's apartment building.  
  
"Should I feel guilty that I'm not spending tonight doing girly things with her?" Mina asked Vlad as they drove away.  
  
"No," he said. "She gave no notice of her arrival."  
  
"That's how I feel. She's my best friend, but I want to be with you tonight."  
  
His loft apartment wasn't anything like his home outside the city. It was pretty utilitarian, mostly a bedroom, a bathroom, and an obviously unused kitchenette. It had windows, but they'd not only had shade film applied, they were equipped with blackout curtains.  
  
"Nice and safe," she commented. "I don't like it as much as the manor house."  
  
"Nor do I," Vlad said, "but it serves my needs."  
  
He drew her into his arms. Mina had always minded being short, had always relied on skyscraper heels, but Vlad made her not mind her height so much. She felt delicate rather than minuscule.  
  
"What happened at dinner?" he asked softly. "When you became upset?"  
  
"I don't know if I can explain it," Mina confessed. "I was suddenly so afraid for you, and I don't know why. I guess it was my old panic problem surfacing. I got panic attacks a lot in the couple of months after Jon died."  
  
"You don't need to worry about me, _iubita mea_. I haven't survived this long by being careless."  
  
Mina shook her head. "The police, they're looking for who killed that mugger. I lied and said I'd left campus before it happened. You need to be careful."  
  
"Mina. Mina. My Mina." He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I am always careful, except for that one time."  
  
"Well, no more bodies, or- or anything. I know you need to drink blood to survive, just . . ."  
  
Vlad kissed her forehead. "Don't think about it, my love."  
  
She wasn't sure why she was so reluctant to tell him the full truth about what had happened at the restaurant. But something held her back.  
  
They stood for a while, just holding each other, and Mina realised that she'd never felt so safe and content in her life. There was something about him that made her feel complete, after so many years alone. She'd loved Jon, but something had always been missing, and as Vlad held her, she realised it was this.  
  
Mina tipped her head up. "Make love to me," she whispered.  
  
"Gladly," he murmured, and carried her to the bed.

 

* * *

 

  
  
He set Mina on her feet and reached around her to find the zipper for her dress. The chiffon confection slithered off her shoulders and caught at her hips, where it needed a bit of a push. She stepped out of it, left in panties and heels, surprising him with her lack of bra.  
  
He definitely enjoyed the view, though.  
  
Vlad pulled his shirt off, and reached for his fly, but Mina's hands beat him there. She pushed his pants down, not surprised that he wore nothing beneath them. She grasped him, stroking upwards, pleased by his swift reaction to her touch.  
  
He made a pleased sound and pulled her flush against him, pinning her hand around his erection as he kissed her hungrily. She laughed against his mouth as he tipped her backwards to the bed. Vlad crawled over her, cock pressing into her stomach as he leaned in to slant his mouth over hers.  
  
Mina moaned a little, gasping as he slid his tongue down the column of her throat. Then he dipped his tongue in her collarbone, and kissed down between her breasts. He lavished attention on both until her nipples were swollen and almost too tender to touch. Be blew a breath across the turgid peaks and she shuddered.  
  
Vlad slid his mouth down her stomach, making her jump when he hit a ticklish spot. When he reached the juncture of her thighs, sliding off the bed onto his knees, he asked, "Are you fond of these?"  
  
"Mm, what?"  
  
"Your panties."  
  
"Not particularly. Why?"  
  
He hooked his fingers under the material and gave a tug, shredding the material so he didn't have to pull them down her legs. Mina gasp, surprised to find herself turned on by it.  
  
Vlad pressed a kiss to each of her inner thighs, before he parted her netherlips and stroked his tongue through her folds. He swirled his tongue around her clit and she gasped his name. Unable to keep her hands to herself, Mina buried them in his hair as he devoured her with lips and tongue.  
  
When he slid his fingers inside her, Mina lost it. She fell apart with a ragged cry, fingers clutching at his hair.  
  
Immensely pleased with himself, Vlad shifted to lie beside her 'til she'd recovered. Mina stretched like a cat and rolled to press against him, idly drawing circles on his chest.  
  
"I've never felt like this before," she told him. "The way I do with you."  
  
Vlad caught her hand and kissed each of her fingertips in turn. "That pleases me."  
  
She pulled her hand from his and slid it between them, wrapping her fingers around his hard shaft. "How about this? Does this please you?"  
  
"Mm." He thrust into her hand with a slow roll of his hips. "Definitely."  
  
Mina pressed a kiss to his chest, over his heart. In her hand, he throbbed with every beat of his heart, and she wondered how he could think himself undead when he breathed and his heart beat.  
  
She kissed the underside of his jaw, nipping a little at his chin. He tipped her to her back, kneeling over her. Mina stroked him harder, her own desire growing at giving him pleasure.  
  
Vlad reached down, sliding his hand past where she gripped him, and found the juncture of her thighs. He dipped his fingers into her wet heat and rubbed slow, lazy circles over her clit until she was panting for more.  
  
Gingerly, he pulled out of her grasp and settled between her legs, which she twined with his.  
  
Mina sighed when he slid into her, running her hands down the smooth skin of his muscled back. Her breathing hitched a little, and she wondered why she'd suddenly expected him to have scars there, when she _knew_ he didn't. But the thought was lost as he started to move.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Vlad made love to her for hours, bringing her to orgasm over and over. Finally, she had to beg for mercy.  
  
He chuckled and pulled her close under the covers, tucking her under his chin with his arms tight around her. "My Mina," he breathed. "How happy you make me."  
  
She ran a hand lovingly over his cheek. "I've never been this happy. Please tell me I'm not going to wake up and find this has all been one incredible dream."  
  
"I'll be here when you wake, _iubita mea_. Nothing could drag me from your side."  
  
"Mmm." She yawned. "I'm going to have to start drinking coffee or something before we go to bed. You wear me out."  
  
He leaned past her to look at the bedside clock. "It's one in the morning, Mina."  
  
"Oh, that would explain it." She giggled and burrowed into his arms. "So tired. Had fun getting that way."  
  
Vlad huffed in amusement. "Go to sleep."  
  
It didn't take long before she was out. He watched her sleep for a while, remembering when he'd lie awake and watch Mirena, wondering what he'd done to earn her love.  
  
Mina, too, baffled him. He hadn't wooed her like he'd intended, but she'd come to him all the same. She trusted him when logic said she shouldn't.  
  
His heart ached, watching her sleep. She was so beautiful. Her face was Mirena's, but her personality . . . There were similarities, but Mina was more worldly than Mirena had been. His wife had been sheltered until their marriage, but she'd loved him fiercely, and he her. He felt that same protectiveness welling up in him as he watched Mina sleep.  
  
"If you were my Mirena, come back to me . . . That would be a miracle, indeed. One I'm not deserving of. Nor am I deserving of you, my Mina."  
  
Mirena was gone. He just happened to love two women who shared a face. He could never tell Mina, he knew, of her resemblance to Mirena. She would never believe that he loved her for _her_ , and he was quickly falling madly in love with Mina Murray.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Her tenuous grip on the tiles faltered. The tile under her left hand tipped up, and she lost her precious purchase. The scream tore from her throat as her hands slid across the marble, seeking but failing to find a new hold.  
  
And then she was falling.  
  
It seemed to take forever, falling. Above her, against the cloudy sky, as dawn broke over the mountain, she saw a dark cloud appear. No, not a cloud. Bats. And in their midst, Vlad, just like when he'd rescued her from the mugger.  
  
Her Vlad. He was trying so hard. Didn’t he know it was too late?  
  
Mina woke with a gasp, jerking upright. She gave a shudder and gulped. The dream had been so vivid!  
  
Standing by the window, watching for dawn, Vlad turned. He brow creased with concern as he crossed the bedroom.  
  
“Are you alright?” he asked, as he sat on the edge of the bed.  
  
“Nightmare,” she told him. Mina pressed a hand over her pounding heart. “I was falling off of a balcony or something. You tried to catch me, but couldn’t.”  
  
He froze, one hand reaching to stroke her hair. “You fell,” he repeated.  
  
Mina nodded. “That was the most . . . real nightmare I’ve ever had.”  
  
Vlad stood and strode back to the window, hands shaking. He had never told her exactly how Mirena died, beyond falling. Could she be . . . remembering? And what did it mean if she were?  
  
She rose from the bed, pulling his shirt around her like a robe. “Vlad? What’s wrong?”  
  
"Nothing," he replied quickly. "I'm just reminded."  
  
"Oh." Mina's hand went to her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'd forgotten- How horrible of me!"  
  
He spun and caught her arms. "No. Never think that. Falling is a common theme in dreams. That's all."  
  
Still, things were a little strained between them as Mina dressed. He drove her home, leaving her at her door not long before dawn.  
  
She dropped her keys on entering the apartment, and swore under her breath.  
  
"Mina?" came Lucy's voice from the living room. "That you?"  
  
Lucy sounded groggy, which she would be if Mina had just rudely woken her. "Yeah, Lu, it's me. Sorry, did I wake you?"  
  
"No . . . I'm cold, can I borrow another blanket?"  
  
Mina fetched a blanket from the linen cupboard and took it into the living room, where Lucy sat huddled on the sofa. Her friend looked pale and wan, shivering in the early morning even though the apartment was a pleasant temperature to Mina's senses.  
  
Immediately, Mina sat beside Lucy on the sofa and put the back of her hand to her friend's forehead. "You're cold as ice! Wrap up, I'm going to get you some tea."  
  
The next few hours were occupied with Mina caring for her suddenly sick friend. Though she had no fever, Lucy couldn't seem to get warm until close to evening, when Mina forced her to eat something hot. A hearty beef stew from a local restaurant was her go-to, as she didn't feel like cooking. It seemed to do the trick, for soon Lucy had colour back in her cheeks and wasn't shivering or as weak.  
  
"Maybe I'm anemic," Lucy said. "I should probably get back to London and see my doctor."  
  
"It could be that, but I don't know that you'd have a sudden onset of it like this. You should sleep, and we'll see how you feel in the morning."  
  
While Lucy slept, Mina texted Vlad to tell him of her friend's illness. He sent back well wishes and said he'd see her when Lucy was safely home.  
  
She didn't notice the figure standing in the shadows on her balcony, or that the door to it was unlocked.


	9. Chapter 9

**\--Chapter Nine--**  
  
Lucy had relapsed during the night. Mina, via cab, took her to the nearest emergency room, where she was diagnosed with severe anemia, and prescribed iron pills and told to go home immediately to see her own doctor.  
  
"Yay for family money and traveller's insurance," Lucy said sulkily. "Can you believe how much they charged?"  
  
"It isn't the NHS back home, that's for sure. Let's get you on the way home. Call Arthur, I'm sure he'll want to pick you up when your flight lands."  
  
She saw Lucy off, spent the next hour worrying, and decided to channel her nervous energy into final lesson plans and grading papers she'd been letting slide since Vlad came into her life.  
  
The question was still up in the air as to whether she was going to take the full-time position and stay in Bucharest, or not. Vlad hadn't asked her to stay, and her Visa would expire soon in any case, but she wanted . . .   
  
She wanted Vlad. She wanted to stay where he was, and make what life she could with him.  
  


* * *

 

  
Arthur Holmwood, Lucy's fiancé, called Mina from London to tell her that Lucy had arrived in one piece and he was taking her to the family doctor to be seen.  
  
"Tell her I'm thinking of her," Mina said, and he promised to do so.  
  
Vlad arrived shortly after sunset, full of concern for her friend.  
  
"I'm really not sure what happened. She was *fine* on Friday, but today, she was so sick that they ordered her to go home to London immediately, even gave her medical papers to take on the place." Mina shook her head. "The doctors said that can happen, but still . . ."  
  
Vlad asked, "Does she have a history of this illness?"  
  
"Not in the slightest. That's what's so strange. It came on so suddenly, with no history of it." She held up her mobile. "I just got a text from her fiance. They're talking about transfusions, she's so sick."  
  
"Hmm." He turned his attention to the fireplace. Mina's apartment was older, in a building not of chrome and glass, and it had a few features Vlad envied that his loft did not, such as the fireplace. It was a gas one, though, not wood burning, which took away some of the satisfaction of lighting it.  
  
Mina closed her lesson plan book in frustration. "I can't help worrying about her."  
  
"As you should." Vlad rose and drew her away from the desk, towards the sofa that faced the fireplace. He pulled her down and into his arms as he sat. "Go ahead and worry."  
  
Sitting sideways in his lap, Mina sighed. "And I've my work Visa to think of, and the job offer. Do I stay here, or do I go back to London and help Lucy?"  
  
"Would it be very selfish of me to want you to stay?" he asked softly.  
  
Mina regarded him with solemn blue eyes. "No, it wouldn't. Because I want to stay."  
  
"Then do so. Stay with me, _iubita mea_."  
  
"You make every decision seem so easy," she sighed.  
  
"Mina, Lucy has access to some of the best doctors in the world in London. She's in good hands there. Other than provide moral support, what would you do to help her get better?"  
  
". . . Provide moral support. But still." She toyed with a button of his shirt. "I can't leave yet, anyway. I have three weeks of classes left before the semester ends. I'm not teaching anything over the summer, so I could go visit her then."  
  
He kissed her temple. "There you go. Take the job, stay with me, and go visit your friend when you can."  
  
Mina leaned her head against his shoulder. "I can't believe I'm taking career advice from Vlad the Impaler."  
  
Vlad snorted. He slid his hand up her thigh to her side, and began tickling her. Mina shrieked a surprised laugh and tried to get away, but Vlad quickly pinned her down.  
  
Mina giggled helplessly as Vlad tickled her. "No, stop!" she laughed. "Vlad!"  
  
He finally took mercy on her, leaning on his elbows to run his fingers through her hair. "Stay _with_ me," he murmured.  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked breathlessly.  
  
"At the vineyard. If you're to stay in Romania . . . Stay with me."  
  
"You're asking me to move in with you? After, what, three weeks? If that? We barely know each other."  
  
His look said she was being silly. "Mina. You already know my darkest secret.  Anything else is 'up' from there."  
  
"I need to think about it," she said. "Things are moving so fast. It feels right, but it's a little intimidating, too."  
  
"Take all the time you need," he said, as he sat up. "I have nothing but time."  
  
Mina adjusted her tee and let him pull her upright. "Has it been terribly lonely for you? I'm sorry, that's an incredibly stupid question."  
  
"Very. Until you. I can't tell you what an incredible treasure you are to me, that you've trusted me so much and believed me."  
  
She rose on one knee and kissed him on the cheek. "You saved my life. How could I not trust you?"  
  
"I'm a vampire," he pointed out.  
  
He had a point.  
  
"My vampire." She laughed a little. "That's so odd to say. Are there others like you out there?"  
  
"There may be other vampires out there, but I haven't encountered any. Not since I destroyed the ones I'd created. Of the one who created me, I know nothing, nor do I want to." Vlad pushed blonde locks out of her eyes. "I hope you never have to meet another of my kind. They're not like me. I've had the strength to hold on to who I am. As soon as I created others, they lost who they were."  
  
Mina leaned into his touch. "I'm so sorry you had to give up your son. Ingeras, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes," he said slowly, trying to recall if he'd ever told her his son's name. Vlad didn't think he'd ever said it, just as he hadn't told her Mirena's.  
  
She settled beside him, curling her legs up. "Tell me about him."  
  
"He was a good boy, so kind, always thinking of others before himself." Vlad smiled wistfully. "He loved riding horses, and play sword fighting. He didn't care much for reading, but he was young still. And when he got older, he was a wise ruler . . . for a while. The throne was taken from him. He lived the rest of his life in exile, but I did what I could to keep him safe."  
  
"Safe is good," Mina murmured.   
  


* * *

 

  
Vlad stayed til near dawn, as he usually did, watching Mina sleep for most of the night. It bothered him that she knew how Mirena had died, falling from the tower, that she knew Ingeras's name when he hadn't told her. She knew things she shouldn't, that she _couldn't_.  
  
There was only one explanation, and Vlad wasn't sure how to deal with it. Mina was Mirena come back to him, just as he'd wished. Except . . . she wasn't. She obviously had some of Mirena's memories, but how many? What would happen if more surfaced? How much of his long-dead wife was in Mina?  
  
He had never thought he could love again, after Mirena, but he loved Mina for herself. That she might actually be Mirena was mind-bending. He'd sworn when she died that death would not keep them apart, but swearing something in anger and grief, and actually having it happen, were two very different things.  
  
What would it mean for Mina to have these memories? And if she ever remembered what Mirena looked like, he was in deep trouble. But what could he have done, told her she looked like Mirena and then asked her out? She would have run the other way.  
  
Vlad wondered, as he left for his loft just before dawn, how long he had before everything began falling apart.


	10. Chapter 10

**\--Chapter Ten--**  
  
Mina felt cheerful, despite her worry for Lucy, when she woke. That didn't last long, because as she listened to the morning news while eating breakfast, there was a bulletin about a body having been found near the river, with its throat ripped out.  
  
Immediately, she called Vlad.  
  
"You didn't go hunting last night, did you?" she asked him when he answered.  
  
"No. I was with you all night. Why?"  
  
"They found another body."  
  
Vlad swore. "It wasn't me, Mina. I don't feed every day, and I certainly don't rip throats out."  
  
"Could it be another vampire?"  
  
"I don't know. As soon as night falls, though, I'm going to go looking."  
  
"Be careful, darling."  
  
"Always, my love."  
  
How funny, she mused as she hung up, that they had fallen so quickly into using endearments. It was almost as if they'd been doing it forever.  
  
She poured her now-soggy cereal down the sink and opted for a big cup of coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need a lot of it over the next few days.  
  
Now, if only she could remember that dream that kept nagging at her . . .

 

* * *

  
  
  
After the sun went down, Vlad made his way to the crime scene where the new body had been found. It was long gone, but there were traces of blood that hadn't been cleaned up, and Vlad knew from the smell that there had been carnage here.  
  
He also had a sense of power, just a whisper, and knew something not human had been here.  
  
Mina was right. There was another vampire in Bucharest.  
  
It wasn't one of his. He hadn't created another since that long-ago day at the monastery. He supposed it was possible that one had escaped, but Vlad didn't think so. He'd been here so long, he'd have noticed. There were other creatures in Romania and Hungary, Moldova--it was still difficult for him to think of it not as Moldavia, as it had been when he was young--but not vampires. Witches, other creatures, but _not_ his kind.  
  
So where had this one come from?  
  
Unfortunately, the earth here could give him no answers.  
  
Mina was reading through a student's homework when he arrived at her apartment via the balcony. She rose quickly to let him in.  
  
"Did you know that this lock is broken?" he asked her, indicating the balcony door.  
  
"No, I didn't." Mina jiggled it. Someone had clearly forced it at some time in the recent past.  
  
"Hmm." Vlad shut the door and wedged a chair under the handle. "You're right. There's a vampire in Bucharest that isn't me."  
  
"How is that possible?"  
  
"I don't know, but I intend to find out. Meanwhile, I don't feel you're safe here. You're on the fourth floor, Mina. How did your lock get broken?"  
  
A chill ran through her. "I don't know. I . . . What should I do?"  
  
"The obvious thing would be for you to stay at my loft until I track down this other."  
  
She nodded, face pale. "I think that's a good idea."  
  


* * *

 

  
Mina packed everything essential, surprised that she actually had very little with her here in Romania. Vlad escorted her to his apartment and told her to make herself at home.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked.  
  
"To find a twenty-four hour locksmith for your apartment. Stay here, please."  
  
"Oh, I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Mina took care of coursework while Vlad was gone, ordering in some Chinese. It was amazing how the modern world had melded so much that here in Romania, she could get both pizza and Chinese when she wanted it.  
  
Her mobile beeped in the middle of dinner. It was from Vlad.  
  
LOCK IS FIXED. I AM GOING VAMPIRE HUNTING. SHOULD BE BACK BEFORE DAWN. V.  
  
Mina sighed and shivered. Feeling worried and discontent, she put aside her dinner, wrapped in one of Vlad's coats, and curled up on the sofa.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Her skirts rustled on the stone floor as she chased the little boy down the corridor. Honey-brown hair bobbed as the toddler neatly evaded her, giggling hysterically.  
  
"Ingeras!" she cried in amused exasperation. "Come back!"  
  
Ingeras only giggled more.  
  
At the end of the hallway, Vlad stepped around the corner, and Ingeras squealed, "Papa!"  
  
Vlad scooped up the little boy, showering him with kisses. When she reached them, Vlad wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to share in the family embrace.  
  
"No kisses for me?" she asked, feigning disappointment.  
  
Her husband said, "There are always kisses for you." He bent his head and kissed her soft and slow.  
  
When they drew apart, Ingeras reached out a little hand, his head against Vlad's shoulder, and patted her hair. "Mama," he mumbled.  
  
His eyes, so like his father's, drooped, and she said, "Time for bed, little one."  
  
"I'll tuck him in," Vlad murmured. "My boy."  
  
She ran a hand lovingly over Ingeras's hair. "I love you both so much," she said softly. "If I were ever to lose you-"  
  
"That will never happen, Mirena. I swear it." Vlad caught the back of her neck and kissed her fiercely. "Forever, remember?"  
  
"Forever," she agreed.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Mina woke with a start when the door opened. She hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep.  
  
"I found nothing," Vlad told her with a sigh. "But your apartment is secure. I'd still feel better if you stayed here for the time being."  
  
She blinked stupidly at him, part of her brain still in that ancient corridor. "Oh," she said. "That's fine. There's a train line near here that can take me to and from campus."  
  
"Or I can secure you a car."  
  
He eyed her abandoned meal. "I hear Chinese food gives one strange dreams."  
  
Mina rubbed her eyes. "I certainly had a doozy. I was chasing a toddler around a castle."  
  
"That's . . . unique. Do you remember much about the dream?"  
  
She shook her head. "No. He was a cute little thing, though. Brown, curly hair and hazel eyes."  
  
Vlad sat down in the closest chair with a thump. Mina didn't notice his stunned expression as she rose and carried her dried-out food to the trash can in the kitchenette.  
  
"I've been having such odd dreams lately," she continued. "Normally I just have nightmares about school things, but these . . . They're so real.  
  
"Dreams can seem that way," he agreed.  
  
She glanced at him. "When you sleep, do you dream?"  
  
"Usually," he admitted.  
  
"What kinds of things do you dream of?"  
  
Vlad shrugged. "My family. Places and friends long gone. Fighting the Turks with a lightsaber. That one was fun. I was almost disappointed to wake and find I didn't have one."  
  
Mina laughed. "I think most who've seen 'Star Wars' have dreamed about having a lightsaber."  
  
She hand-washed the plate she'd used and set it to dry. "Why do you have dishes if you don't eat?"  
  
"I eat sometimes."  
  
"Forgive me if this is too personal, but what happens when you eat? If it doesn't give you any nutrition?"  
  
Vlad stood, recovered from his shock. "My body just absorbs it, I suppose. If you're asking if I use the bathroom . . ."  
  
She blushed. "Sort of."  
  
"No. Showers only. Or baths. I like baths."  
  
Mina grinned at the mental image. "The big bad vampire taking a bubble bath. That I've got to see."  
  
"I never said they were bubble baths!" he protested with a chuckle.  
  
"But you also haven't said they aren't." She lightly poked him in the stomach. "If they aren't bubble baths, why do you have a bottle of it by the tub, hmm?"  
  
He caught her around the waist and pulled her close. "I bought that with you in mind," he told her.  
  
Mina slid her hands up his chest. "I'm just teasing. But now I have the image of you trying to pick a scent at the store."  
  
"I took the coward's way out and had a female store clerk choose one," he admitted.  
  
She let out a peal of laughter. "Did you really?"  
  
"I did. I'm not afraid to take on a thousand Turks alone, and yet the beauty products section of the store terrifies me."  
  
Mina giggled. "I love you."  
  
His expression turned solemn. "Do not say those words lightly, Mina."  
  
Realising what she'd said, Mina froze. "They're not said lightly," she told him, after a moment spent gathering her thoughts. "I know it's fast, but . . . I do. I love you."  
  
"Sometimes," he whispered, "the soul knows before the head does. I've only said it to one other person, Mina, in nearly six hundred years. I meant it then, and I mean it now."  
  
"Tell me," she breathed.  
  
"I love you, my Mina. And I will never let anything hurt you."  
  
He kissed her tenderly. She rose on her toes, and he lifted her in his arms, holding her flush against him.  
  
Without a word, he carried her to bed.

 

* * *

  
  
  
The next few weeks were busy for Mina, working with her students on their final projects for the semester and spending her free time with Vlad--when he wasn't hunting for the other vampire, that was.  
  
She received word from Lucy that her friend was making a full recovery, which pleased her greatly. What didn't please her were the discoveries of two more bodies, all killed the same way.  
  
Lying in bed, near dawn, Vlad reclined on his back with his hands folded behind his head. Mina lay beside him, having woken when he returned from his nightly search.  
  
"I don't like that I can't find this monster. I feel I should be able to sense them, as I did my . . . offspring."  
  
"If they're not of your line, though, I don't see why you _should_ be able to sense them," she pointed out. "I've been doing research on vampires, and there are lots of different legends and types. If another type of vampire has moved into the city, it's possible your powers aren't the same."  
  
"That's very true. And just because Lucien told me about the origins of one vampire, doesn't mean that was the only vampire in existence. Judas, after all, is rumoured to have been one."  
  
"Which is why silver is bad for vampires," Mina agreed. "According to legend, anyway."  
  
Vlad rolled to his side to face her. "It's possible. I didn't exactly ask questions of my maker before he turned me. I was so focused on getting the power to defeat the Turks, I didn't ask many questions that I should have."  
  
"Would he have answered your questions, though?"  
  
He sighed. "Probably not. Go back to sleep, Mina. I'm sorry I woke you."  
  
"Don't be. I'm happy to wake up when you come home."  
  
Home, he mused, as she curled into him with an arm flung across his chest. It would be nice to have that again.


	11. Chapter 11

**\--Chapter Eleven--**  
  
The semester ended, giving Mina much more free time. Still, she spent most of that time with Vlad at the vineyard, since she didn't need to be in the city. She had long-since officially moved from her apartment. Living with Vlad just seemed natural under the circumstances.  
  
"Summer must be hell for you," she observed, as he took her on a tour of the vineyard shortly after sunset. "The sun goes down so late and comes up so early."  
  
"It isn't my favourite, I'll say that much."  
  
"We should go somewhere with a beach. Not for sunbathing," she said quickly, at his look, "but for moonlit walks in the sand, that kind of thing."  
  
Vlad slid an arm around her waist. "Someday, perhaps. I don't really _miss_ the sun, except when I'm with you. I wish I could see you in daylight."  
  
"That's easy. I'll stand on the veranda in the sun while you stay in the house."  
  
"That's not what I meant, and you know it."  
  
She grinned, briefly, then her smile fell. "There hasn't been a killing in three weeks. That worries me."  
  
"The semester ended the same time," Vlad mused. "Do you suppose it was a student?"  
  
"Maybe a night student, but no. I think the timing is just coincidence." Mina shook her head. She'd let her hair start growing out, and it wisped around her heart-shaped face.  
  
Vlad ran his fingers through her blonde hair and sighed. To his knowledge, she hadn't had any type of flashback in weeks, either, and he wondered if the two were connected.  
  
"I was thinking," she said, after a moment. "You didn't rip out the throat of the mugger that attacked me. But when the police found him . . ."  
  
"I know. Someone did it after we left. Which means whoever has been doing this knows what I am."

 

* * *

 

  
  
When Mina woke feeling weak and violently ill, her first thought was that she'd caught whatever Lucy had that had given her the anemic reaction. But Lucy hadn't thrown up like this, to Mina's knowledge, and that had been weeks ago, nearly two months.  
  
Mina wiped her mouth with the wad of toilet paper, mind racing. She wasn’t prone to the flu, and she hadn’t eaten anything in at least twelve hours, so that left out food poisoning. And now that she’d thrown up, she felt surprisingly well.  
  
She was, however, a week late for her period.  
  
Was it even possible? She’d just assumed, with Vlad being a vampire, that it wasn’t. Everyone knew vampires were the undead. Except Vlad was very alive. Different, but alive.  
  
An hour later, after a quick trip to the store, she had her answer. The little pink plus sign on the pregnancy test was very clear. Mina felt faint and more than a little panicked.  
  
Vlad was still asleep, so she spent the morning and early afternoon online, reading everything she could about legends concerning this sort of thing. The child of a vampire father and a human mother, she learned, was called a dhampir. They were rumoured to either be terrific vampire hunters, or horrific monsters.  
  
Most sites she found, though, were devoted to the characters from "Twilight", which didn't help in the slightest.  
  
She paced, exhausted but too nervous to sleep. She cried, holed up in the bathroom with the shower running.  
  
Finally, near sundown, she waited for Vlad to wake, perched on the side of the bed. It wasn’t that he couldn’t be awake during the day, it just made him weak. So he preferred to sleep. Mina watched him, wondering how he’d take the news she had to impart.  
  
When he stirred, and his eyes opened, he saw her immediately, and smiled widely. She smiled back, but her nervousness must have been apparent because he immediately sat up.  
  
“What is wrong?” he asked.  
  
“Um. I found out something today,” Mina began. She faltered. How could she even begin to explain this?  
  
He reached out to take her hand. “What is it?”  
  
She chewed on her lip for a moment, then took a deep breath and said, “I’m pregnant.”  
  
The look on Vlad’s face was priceless. “You’re what?”  
  
“I know. I don’t know how it happened, but I am.”  
  
He looked like she'd hit him in the face with a shovel. "I . . . _How_?!"  
  
"I don't _know_! The usual way, I suppose. I mean, we haven't been careful because you're a bloody _vampire_! You're supposed to be dead, not . . ." Mina forced herself to stop. "We know you breathe, and your heart beats. And you obviously, ah . . ."  
  
She cleared her throat. "So why couldn't you have retained the ability? It isn't that strange a thing, compared to _turning into bats_."  
  
"You're awfully calm about this," he said.  
  
Mina chewed on her lip. "I've already had my meltdown. Did that this morning. Spent the rest of the day on Google."  
  
She sighed. "God, I don't want a sparklebaby."  
  
Vlad paused in his mental flailing, distracted. "A what?"  
  
"Have you read 'Twilight'?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good. Don't. It's horrible. But there's these two characters, Edward and Bella. She's human, he's a vampire, they get married, she gets pregnant after two days on the honeymoon or something, and within a week she gives birth to this rapidly-growing monster baby thing that Edward has to chew out of her stomach."  
  
Vlad stared. "That's horrific."  
  
"Sparklebaby," she said.  
  
He looked at her stomach, then at her. "What does your _other_ research say?"  
  
"That we're having a dhampir, and it will be normal until adulthood or something like that."  
  
"And after that?"  
  
"No idea. It's really hard to filter through all the crap out there." She sighed and drew her legs up. "Tell me you're not upset."  
  
"Mina . . . I am completely stunned beyond my wildest imaginings, but no, I'm not upset. I never thought I would be able to have children with you."  
  
"What if it's a monster?" she asked in a whisper. "Some horrible, deformed thing with fangs?"  
  
He pulled her into his arms. "No. Don't think that. Please don't think that."  
  
Tears leaked out and she choked back a sudden sob. "How can I not worry, Vlad?"  
  
He held her tightly, mouth pressed to the top of her head. "We'll figure this out. I promise."  
  
Mina hiccuped. "I hope so, because I don't want to give birth to a monster."  
  
It was funny really. There was no question, in her mind, of whether she was keeping it, at least until they knew if it wasn't safe. It was Vlad's child, and scared as she was, she wanted it.  
  
"I'm not an expert, Mina. But my instincts tell me you'll be fine, that our child will be fine."  
  
She sighed. "How are _you_ so calm about this?"  
  
"Inside I'm screaming," he told her. "From joy and from fear. I'm just good at holding it in."  
  
"Don't hold it in this time, Vlad. Tell me what you're thinking."  
  
"I'm thinking that I love you, and that we'll do this together, whatever happens."  
  
Mina whispered, "I've always wanted a baby. But now I'm terrified rather than happy."  
  
"I know, _iubita_ _mea_. I know."

 

* * *

 

  
  
She slept heavily, crying herself to sleep. Vlad was up all night, doing his own research. They were in uncharted waters, and he had no idea how to navigate.  
  
On the one hand, he was thrilled beyond measure at the idea of a child with Mina. He had loved being a father the first time, and had always wanted more children with Mirena. On the other hand . . . he had every fear and doubt Mina did, because _how_ had this happened? He was a vampire, and supposedly dead, no matter that certain bodily functions still worked. What arcane magic had led to this?  
  
Then he got down on his knees and prayed for the first time in nearly six centuries.  
  
"Lord, I know it has been long since I've spoken to You. I've avoided it out of shame for what I've become. But I need You now, Lord. Not on my behalf, but on Mina's, and our child's. Let this child be healthy, and . . . normal. Please, Lord. Do not make her carry a monster."  
  
This changed everything. Mina needed him now more than ever, and he would not let her down.  
  
Then, he smiled a little. He was going to be a father again? There was only one thing to do now.  
  
He watched videos online, and made Mina breakfast. It was probably terrible cooking, since he hadn't had to do any in centuries, but he wanted to make the effort for her. Meat he could cook. That much was easy. The toaster, on the other hand . . .  
  
Vlad set the table and waited for her to come downstairs. With the blinds in the kitchen closed, he could be up in the day and not be bothered by the sun.  
  
When she finally came down, her face was puffy both from sleep and from crying. She had been ill, he knew, his hearing having clued him in. He remembered how Mirena had been sick when carrying Ingeras, and he wanted to alleviate that as much as possible for Mina.  
  
"I made you breakfast," he said proudly.  
  
Mina took in the sausage, the scrambled eggs, and the slightly-too-done toast, and smiled for the first time in a while. "You are so sweet," she said.  
  
He pulled the chair out for her, then hesitated. "I was going to wait until after you ate, but I find myself impatient."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
“Marry me,” he implored. Even as Vlad said the words, he was afraid she, like Mirena, would say no. And he had no title to persuade her otherwise. Not anymore.  
  
Mina gazed at him with those big blue eyes, utterly silent. The longer she refrained from speech, the more nervous Vlad became. Him, nervous! Warrior prince, monster of the dark, afraid of a woman’s rejection!  
  
“Are you asking because of the baby?” she asked after a while.  
  
Vlad caught her hands, pulled her close with them. “No. Well, I'm asking _now_ because of the baby. But I've wanted to ask you since the moment we met. Because you, my Mina, you are my everything. You are everything I have searched for, for so very long. I cannot offer you daylight, _iubita mea_ , but I can offer you everything else.”  
  
She smiled, a little sadly he thought. “I have daylight on my own, Vlad. And I don’t need riches. Wealth is very nice, I’m sure, but I don’t _need_ it.”  
  
“What is it you desire?” he asked softly.  
  
“Love,” she told him. “Someone to be there for me at the end of the day, when I’ve had a difficult day at work. Someone to . . . talk to. To hold.”  
  
“I can give you that,” he swore fervently. “You know I can.”  
  
“I know.” She cupped his face in her hands. “But I’m human, Vlad. I’m not . . . like you. I don’t know if I _could_ be.”  
  
He turned his face and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I know. And . . . if that’s what you desire, I can offer that, as well. Though I would not wish this existence on anyone.”  
  
Mina let out a long, slow sigh. “Even with what you are, Vlad, you’ve made me happier than I can remember in a long time. Ever since I lost Jonathan, I’ve existed in this limbo. You brought me out of it. I feel more _alive_ with you than I have in so long. Which is funny, because . . .”  
  
“Technically speaking, I’m dead?” he asked wryly.  
  
She huffed a laugh. “Are you? You seem very much alive to me. Your heart beats, you breathe. You've managed to get me pregnant. And you’re here before me, asking me to marry you.”  
  
His hands curled around her, sliding to settle on her hips. “To which you haven’t given me an answer.”  
  
One corner of her mouth curled up. “Technically speaking, you didn’t _ask_.”  
  
Vlad groaned. “Is that all? Mina, my love, my darling, will you marry me and spend your existence with this accursed creature?”  
  
“You’re not cursed,” she told him softly. “You’re just . . . different.”  
  
“Mina.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
He was surprised by the simplicity of her answer. “Yes?”  
  
“That’s what I’m saying,” she said impatiently. “Yes.”  
  
He grinned, showing extra-long canines. “I cannot marry you in a church,” he warned.  
  
“I’ve never been keen on a church wedding, anyway. I’m fine with a civil ceremony in a courthouse if that’s what it takes.”  
  
“I only have one thing to ask of you,” he said softly. “Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not wear white.”  
  
She frowned. “Why not?”  
  
“My first wife, she . . . was murdered in a white dress. I could not stand the sight of you in one, even as beautiful as you are.” And with her looking so like his Mirena . . .  
  
Mina burrowed into his arms to embrace him. “Oh, Vlad. I’m so sorry. Of course I’ll find something else.”  
  
He kissed her forehead. “Thank you for being so understanding.”


	12. Chapter 12

**\--Chapter Twelve--**  
  
"We can wait as long as you'd like," Vlad told her later that day. I just want to give you my protection, and . . . legitimacy to our child."  
  
Mina stood by the window, hands over her stomach, looking out at the night. "We might as well get it done quickly. Everything else has happened so fast. Sometimes I feel I'm not in control of myself. Like I'm being shoved headlong towards something."  
  
"How so?"  
  
She shrugged. "How fast I fell in love with you? And this baby. I've always been careful when it comes to sex, but with you, I forgot entirely. Almost like birth control was a foreign concept to me. I didn't even think about it until now."  
  
No, Vlad thought, Mirena wouldn't have considered using it, even if it had been an option.  
  
"Are you angry?" he asked Mina.  
  
"There's no point in being angry. I _want_ a life with you. I'm just frightened by how quickly everything has changed."  
  
He hugged her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Don't be frightened. I will be with you every step of the way."  
  
"Don't _you_ feel things aren't in our control?" she asked.  
  
"A little," he admitted. "But I also believe things happen for a reason sometimes."  
  
"Sometimes that reason is because we're idiots, and do stupid things."  
  
He laughed. "That is very true."

 

* * *

 

  
  
They had a few days to wait, by law. Mina was happy to be marrying Vlad, despite how quickly everything had happened. Not knowing what was growing inside her, though, dampened any excitement she had at being engaged.  
  
She didn't call Lucy and tell her either bit of news, which spoke to how terrified she was of the reality of her situation. She was having a very unexpected baby that she hoped wouldn't chew its way out of her like that poor man in "Alien".  
  
Mina's sleep was fitful, worse than it had ever been. She had nightmares about the baby every time she slept, and in her waking hours, she was a nervous wreck. Vlad did what he could to soothe her, but it wasn't much.  
  
Staring at herself in the mirror as she dressed on her wedding day, Mina said aloud, "I'm marrying Vlad the Impaler today. How in the bloody hell did _that_ happen?"  
  
She wore a pale blue dress, a tea-length sheath that clung to her curves, as a wedding gown. It had a flirty little ruffle at the hem and spaghetti straps.  
  
When she came down the stairs, Vlad smiled at the sight of her. He wore a deep red velvet coat, with a high standing collar and gold embroidery. Mina couldn't help smiling when she saw him in it.  
  
"I love it," she told him. "You look very . . . princely."  
  
"It's a copy of one I had a long time ago," he told her. "I had it made when you said you like red."  
  
She ran a hand over the soft velvet of his sleeve. "I'm . . . honoured, Vlad."  
  
He smiled. "You are beautiful," he said. "This dress is so lovely on you."  
  
"It was so hard finding one I wanted to wear that wasn't white," she confessed. "But you said you didn't want white, so here I am. Besides, white on a pregnant bride?"  
  
"The blue is perfect. It brings out your eyes." He traced the curve of her face with his fingertips, as if memorizing her. Not that he any need to. Hers was one he could never forget, not in a millennium.  
  
"How are you getting to and from the car?" Mina asked. "Since it's daylight."  
  
"Look outside."  
  
She went to the front door and opened it. It was grey and overcast, which confused Mina. "Wasn't it sunny a few minutes ago?"  
  
He shrugged. "I made the clouds come. I can't go outside otherwise."  
  
Mina was awed by that, but also a little frightened. Then again, she was frightened by everything these days.  
  
The situation being what it was, they married in Târgoviște, the ceremony presided over by a local justice. It was a quick and dirty civil affair, and they were in and out in twenty minutes.  
  
She'd always imagined a little more pomp and circumstance than that. But she'd do anything for Vlad. Her prince.  
  
He smiled gently as they exited the building. "Let's go home, my Mina. You look tired."  
  
"I'm still not sleeping well."  
  
Vlad cupped her face in his hands. "Everything will be alright, _soția mea_."  
  
"What does that one mean?" she asked.  
  
"It means 'my wife'. _Iubita mea_ is 'my beloved'."  
  
Mina ran her hands over the rich embroidery on his jacket. "What's 'my husband'? My Romanian is still rubbish."  
  
He kissed her forehead. "You would say ' _soțul meu_ '."  
  
" _Soțul meu_."  
  
She turned the ring he'd given her around her finger. It matched his, and because he couldn't wear silver, the rings were made of gold. Both were studded all the way around with cabochon emeralds and rubies. They were unusual, nothing like the ring Jonathan had given her, but in marrying Vlad, they were perfect.  
  
She had kept her maiden name, because Nicolae wasn't his real name and she didn't want to take it as hers. If she'd chosen "Dracula" as the name to go by, the clerk would have regarded her as crazy.  
  
Back at the house, they found that Sveta, his housekeeper, had prepared them a celebratory meal. Mina liked the quiet older woman, not so much her daughter.  
  
"If I _were_ to take your name," Mina asked, "what would that be?"  
  
"We didn't have family names when I was born. I was given the name I gave you the night I truly introduced myself, except for Țepeș. That I earned. My father was admitted to the Order of the Dragon and started using Dracul shortly before I was born. Our house name was Drăculești as a result. I used Draculea and its various spellings. So I suppose you would be Wilhelmina Drăculești."  
  
She shuddered. "Please. Never, ever use Wilhelmina again. I may just change it to Mina permanently."  
  
"Why haven't you already?"  
  
Mina shrugged. "Because it's what my parents named me?"  
  
"It doesn't suit you. Mina, however, does."  
  
"Mina Drăculești," she said. "I like it, but it would be so difficult to explain."  
  
"Perhaps, one day," Vlad said. "How are you feeling? I see you're not eating much."  
  
"I'm a bit queasy," Mina admitted.  
  
She stood too quickly and swayed, grabbing the table for support. Vlad was instantly on his feet and around the table before she saw him move.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm okay. Just a bit dizzy. I think I need to lie down."  
  
"Go," he said. "I'll clean up here and join you in a bit."  
  
She gave him a weak smile. "You?"  
  
"I know how to put away leftovers."  
  
Mina snickered. "Vlad the Impaler, domestic god."  
  
"Oh, hush."  
  
As she made her way up the stairs to their bedroom, Mina marvelled at how right being married to Vlad felt. She felt as if pieces had been missing her whole life, and now that she'd found him, she'd found those long-lost bits of herself. It had been nearly two years since Jon's death, and she had been more than ready to move on. She just hadn't expected to do it so quickly or passionately.  
  
She readied for bed, dressing in a negligee she'd purchased specifically for tonight. It was black lace and made her feel sexy. *Vlad* made her feel sexy, but the lingerie helped.  
  
Mina sat at the vanity in the bedroom and took off her earrings. As she did, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. For a split second, she thought she saw the image of long blonde hair that cascaded to her waist.  
  
 _"So what attacked you? Was it wolves?" she asked Vlad's reflection, where he stood behind her._  
  
 _"I suppose. All I know is, I lost two good men today."_  
  
Mina shook her head, rattled by the experience. She stared at her reflection, wondering where that had come from.  
  
When he appeared for real in the mirror, she jumped. Vlad held up his hands. "I didn't mean to startle you."  
  
She turned, face white. "You didn't, exactly. I . . ."  
  
"What is it, love?"  
  
Mina hesitated. She didn't want him to think she was losing her mind, but she needed to tell him. "I keep having these . . . flashes. Like scenes in my head, or . . . or memories that aren't mine. I had one just now."  
  
Vlad crouched before the bench and took her hands. "What did you see, _iubita mea_?"  
  
"I was brushing my hair. Hair I don't have. I mean, I used to have long hair but I cut it off. I was brushing this long, long hair, and you were there, and I asked if you'd been attacked by wolves. You said you didn't know, but you'd lost two men."  
  
His hands trembled around hers, and he tightened his grasp on her fingers to stop the tremour.  
  
"Vlad? What is it?"  
  
He swallowed. "That conversation happened, Mina. A very long time ago. With Mirena."  
  
Mina's eyes went wide. "Is . . . is she _haunting_ me?"  
  
"I don't know, my love. I wish I could tell you."  
  
His bride looked so frightened by the idea, he couldn't tell her his real theory: that she was remembering a past life that they had shared together.  
  
"Come to bed, Mina," he said.  
  
"I don't know if I'm up to making love tonight," she told him. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Never apologise for that. I was only planning on holding you."  
  
"I'm just so tired, and my stomach feels funny." She pressed her hand to the bottom of her ribcage. "I could definitely do without the nausea."  
  
"It will pass, in time. Come sleep."  
  
In bed, Mina lay in the circle of his arms, staring at the canopy of the bed until well past midnight. If Mirena was haunting her, causing these dreams and visions, why? Was it a warning, or just an attempt to communicate?  
  
Either way, as far as Mina was concerned, she wanted it to stop.  
  


* * *

 

  
There was another body found the morning after their wedding, which dashed Mina's hopes that the vampire had moved on. Vlad renewed his hunt for the creature, and Mina once again took up residence in the loft apartment.  
  
"I think I know where its lair is," Vlad said, after a long night of searching. "But I can't get to it tonight."  
  
"How did you figure out where it is?"  
  
"The victims were all found within a certain area. I merely looked until I found a light-safe, abandoned building they could occupy."  
  
Mina shifted to rest her head on Vlad's shoulder. "That's smart."  
  
"When I've dealt with this, I think you should go visit Lucy."  
  
"She says she's made a full recovery, but I would like to go see her." Mina smiled. "Share my news. She'll be completely livid I got married without her, but maybe you could come to England and we could let her throw a party for us."  
  
He stroked her shoulder and upper arm in a slow rhythm. "That's a possibility. I would like to see England again."  
  
Vlad moved to cover her, careful to keep his weight from crushing her. "We'll discuss that when this creature is dealt with. For now . . ."  
  
He slid down the bed, pushed up her pajama top, and kissed her belly. "I know you're scared. I am, too. But I'm also excited for this."  
  
"I want to be excited, but the not knowing is overwhelming."  
  
"Whatever happens, I'm here with you."  
  
Mina ran her fingers through his hair. "I love you. What did I ever do to _find_ you? Of all the places in the world, I just stumbled across my other half."  
  
"I believe some things are fated," he said slowly. "Perhaps we are one of those things. Some things happen for a reason. You and I . . . I feel we're meant to be."  
  
"Before you, I scoffed at fate and destiny. But maybe you're right."  
  
Then she made a face and bolted from the bed.  
  
Vlad flopped on his back and sighed. When she discovered the truth, she was going to _kill_ him.  
  



	13. Chapter 13

**\--Chapter Thirteen--**  
  
Two nights later, Vlad returned before midnight with a ripped and bloody shirt, and a triumphant grin.  
  
"I found her," he told Mina. "We don't need to worry about that anymore."  
  
"You killed her?"  
  
"Stake through the heart," he confirmed. "I don't know who created her or what her name was, but she was a vicious, feral creature with no thought for anything but feeding. I'm surprised she'd only killed the five, but she was also living off of rats and stray animals."  
  
Mina's brows rose. "Is that possible, living off animals?"  
  
"It . . . isn't as nourishing to us as human blood. There was a time during the first half of the last century when I had to hide in the Carpathian mountains and live off of deer and other wild life. It wasn't the best time."  
  
She stuck her tongue out and said, "Blegh."  
  
"You said that about my feeding on humans."  
  
"That's because drinking blood is disgusting. I know you have to do it to survive, but still. Blegh."  
  
"If you ever decide to be changed," he told her, "you'll feel differently."  
  
"Mmm." She ran a hand over her slightly-rounded stomach. It was primarily water weight, not the baby, but it was still evidence of her pregnancy. "We'll see."  
  
"But it's dealt with." He stripped off the torn shirt and threw it in the trash."  
  
"How much of that blood is yours?" she asked.  
  
"Some. But they were all flesh wounds. She was fond of claws." He went to the bathroom to wash the blood off. From the doorway, he said, "I don't want to seem like I'm making you leave, but you're free to go see Lucy now."  
  
Mina shook her head with a smile. "I still think you could come with me."  
  
"I can't fly unless it's a nighttime flight," he said. "And _flying_ that far, I'm not sure I could do it."  
  
"Good points. We'd need to plan your travel so carefully. Fine. This time, I'll go by myself, but someday . . ."  
  
"Someday," he agreed. "Go, enjoy time with your friend. Never let it be said I don't know how to share."  
  
She laughed. "Alright. I'll call Lu in the morning and tell her I'm coming."

 

* * *

 

  
  
Mina flew to London the next day. Travelling with morning sickness was more gruelling than she'd expected and she was beyond relieved when she met Lucy at Heathrow.  
  
"You look like a wet rag," her best friend told her. "What _have_ you been doing?"  
  
"Something bad," Mina told her, and showed her the wedding ring she wore on her left hand. Vlad, out of ancient custom, wore his on his right.  
  
"You got engaged?" Lucy demanded.  
  
"No. Vlad and I got married."  
  
Lucy's shriek of outrage drew looks from all within hearing distance. Mina grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her out of the airport.  
  
"We did it quickly and quietly," Mina explained in hushed tones. "We had to."  
  
"Are you _pregnant_?" Lucy squealed.  
  
Mina nodded, and for the first time, she was a little giddy about it. Lucy made all sorts of happy noises and hugged her, right in the middle of the walkway to the car park.  
  
Lucy immediately began a non-stop chatter about baby showers and who would be godmother--her, of course--and was she hoping for a boy or a girl? Mina let her run on, just grateful that Lucy hadn't tried to strangle her.  
  
"I don't care if it's a boy or a girl," Mina told her. "I just want it to be a baby."  
  
"What else would it be, a potato?"  
  
She shrugged. "There's always the chance it could be an alien."  
  
Lucy laughed, the sobered a little. "Aren't you a little worried about how fast this is? You met him, what, two months ago?"  
  
"A little over," Mina corrected. "Almost ten weeks. But he and I have had that conversation to death. It feels right to us."  
  
Lucy tipped her head. "Well, you remember Camille, right? She met that bloke she married in April, they were engaged by July, married in August, and she was up the duff on their honeymoon."  
  
"We all thought she was mad," Mina remembered. "And here I go and do almost the same thing. But I'd do it again, I think. I'm just so in love with Vlad."  
  
The redhead sighed. "I feel the same way about Arthur. And his money or title has nothing to do with it. Impending title, I should say. His father really isn't doing well and it looks like he won't last the summer."  
  
"That's unfortunate."  
  
"Not really. His dad is a right bastard."  
  
Lucy's little yellow roadster pulled up the drive of the Westenra manor, where Lucy lived with her widowed mother. They also had a bunch of Mina's things stored in the attic, which she supposed she'd better take back to Romania with her.  
  
As if sensing her thoughts, Lucy asked, "So you're moving to Romania for good, huh?"  
  
"At the moment, that's the plan. We might take a house here in England, though. It would have to be an older place. Vlad doesn't care for 'modern' architecture, and I rather agree with him."  
  
"The old abbey, what's it called? Carfax? It's up for sale. That old enough for you?"  
  
Mina laughed. "Might be a little _too_ old. It was built when, the Dark Ages?"  
  
"Something like that."  
  
Lucy popped the trunk and dragged Mina's carry-on out. When Mina reached for it, Lucy said, "Nuh-uh. No carrying anything heavy for the pregnant lady."  
  
"I'm not an invalid, and that isn't that heavy!" Mina protested.  
  
"Tough. I'm going to wait on you, and _you_ , my friend, are going to help me plan a wedding. I think I envy you your elopement, Min. You have any idea how hard it is planning a society wedding?"

 

* * *

 

  
  
After resting, Mina found herself immersed to her neck in wedding planning. It was one thing she didn't miss from her engagement to Jon. He'd been studying for his exams to be a full barrister, and she'd done most of it herself.  
  
One of the things stored in the Westenra attic was her wedding dress, bought but never worn. After dinner, she went up and pulled it out of storage, just to look at it.  
  
She'd been a different person when she'd bought the dress, she realised. She wasn't the same Mina now that she'd been then, and Vlad had little to do with it. Jon's death had changed her.  
  
"What are you going to do with that?" Lucy asked from behind her.  
  
Mina shrugged. "Sell it? Donate it to Oxfam? I dunno."  
  
"What did you wear when you married Vlad?"  
  
Pulling out her mobile, Mina saw she had a text from Vlad. THINKING OF YOU. V.  
  
She smiled and sent off a little heart, then pulled up the photo someone at the courthouse had taken with her phone.  
  
"Good heavens," Lucy said. "Your dress is pretty, but your best accessory is the groom!"  
  
Giggling, Mina took the phone back. "It's traditional or something, that coat. Gorgeous, isn't it?"  
  
"And the man _in_ it!" Lucy laughed. "I hope you don't mind my saying it."  
  
"Hey, you've got eyes. Bit difficult to not see."  
  
"Mina, your husband would make a sinner out of a blind nun." Lucy nudged her. "I'd say we should go for drinks to celebrate, but you can't, can you?"  
  
Mina had no idea how alcohol would affect a half-vampire baby, but she didn't say that aloud. "No, not for months yet.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Aside from helping Lucy shop for a wedding dress, the next two days were uneventful. No strange dreams or waking visions plagued her. The only thing amiss was Vlad's absence. But she was a big girl, and could stand a few days without him.  
  
Mina woke feeling exhausted on the third day, but that was no surprise given how much running around she and Lucy had done the day before. They'd visited no less than four bridal salons, looking for just the right dress.  
  
"I'm glad I eloped," Mina told the ceiling.  
  
She went through her now-normal ritual of being sick the moment she sat up, then made her way down to the dining room where Mrs. Westenra always had breakfast served promptly at seven. Mina felt ravenous, and fell on her food with a nearly-unladylike manner.  
  
"You've quite the appetite," Mrs. Westenra commented.  
  
Embarrassed, Mina patted her mouth with the cloth napkin provided. "I've reason," she said, then confessed, "My husband and I are expecting."  
  
"Congratulations, my dear!" Mrs. Westenra beamed. "Lucy did mention that you had married in secret. Tell me about him."  
  
Mina poured herself another glass of orange juice, and told her foster mother about "Vlad Nicolae". Mrs. Westenra made all the right noises in the right places, and obviously approved more of Vlad than she had of Jon.  
  
The older woman kept checking the clock, and finally she asked, "Would you be a dear and go wake Lucy? She shouldn't be abed at this hour. Her breakfast will be cold."  
  
"Certainly."  
  
Mina excused herself and hurried out of the dining room and across the marble foyer to the central stairs. She remembered playing on these stairs when she was little, and coming down them in a ballgown to meet Jon.  
  
Sighing, she strode down the corridor to Lucy's room and pounded on the door. There was no answer from inside. When she tried the knob, she found it unlocked, which wasn't at all like Lucy.  
  
"Lu?" she asked, as she pushed the door open.  
  
There was a groan from the bed. Mina flipped the overhead light on and sucked in a breath at the sight that greeted her: Lucy, white as the sheets she lay on, obviously weak and listless.  
  
"Lucy!" she exclaimed, and ran to her friend's side.  
  
The symptoms were the same as before: cold, pale, weak. Lucy was so pale that her coppery hair seemed even brighter against the palour of her skin.  
  
But it was nothing compared to the smear of blood on the side of her neck and on the pillow beneath her.  
  
Mina went cold from head to toe. She leaned in and saw faint fang marks, rapidly fading ones, on the side of Lucy's neck.  
  
"Hang on, Lu," she said breathlessly. "I'm going to get help."  
  
She sprang from the bed and ran for the door. Before she got to the stairs, she was calling for Mrs. Westenra.  
  
"Lucy's ill again," she said. "We need an ambulance now."  
  
Lucy's mother jumped to her feet. "Oh, dear. I'll call Arthur, will you call for the ambulance?"  
  
Mina nodded. She ran back up the stairs to her room, to fetch her phone. She dialled for help to come. Then she had to sit down for a moment.  
  
Something had bitten Lucy and obviously drank her blood. But Vlad had killed the vampire in Bucharest!  
  
She checked on Lucy, found her no better but no worse, and hurried to meet Mrs. Westenra.  
  
"You sit with Lucy, I'll wait for the emergency crew," she said.  
  
"Yes, yes, good idea." Mrs. Westenra dashed up the stairs to tend to her daughter.  
  
Mina stepped outside, into the early morning sun, and wondered how a vampire had found them here. How many of them were out there? Had one followed Lucy from Romania?  
  
It took Mina three tries to press the little icon for her husband, her hands were shaking so badly. He picked up on the fourth ring, just when she thought it was going to go to voicemail.  
  
"Mina?"  
  
"We have a problem," she told him. "There's something draining Lucy."  
  
"Draining," Vlad repeated. She could tell from the way his voice changed that he was sitting up now.  
  
"She has fang marks on her neck. Vlad, there's another vampire out there, and he's killing my friend."  
  
"I'll be there as soon as I can."  
  
"Please hurry, darling."  
  
"As fast as I can," he swore, and hung up.  
  
Mina pressed the phone to her chest and gazed up at the Westenras' house, wondering if Vlad would get there in time.


	14. Chapter 14

**\--Chapter Fourteen--**  
  
Flying was not an option, so Vlad got in his sun-protected car and he drove. It took longer, much longer, but he had no other option. Mina needed him, Lucy, too, and if there was another vampire out there, he intended to stop them.  
  
The question that plagued him through the hours-long drive was, where had another come from? He'd killed one in Bucharest. Had there been more than one? The odds of Lucy being attacked now by a random other vampire were beyond astronomical. He'd bet his right hand that the vampire that had bitten her now had been behind her illness two months previous.  
  
It was a twenty-eight hour drive from Bucharest to London, including the ferry in France across the Channel. He only stopped once for sustenance.  
  
In London, he called Mina for directions to the Westenra home. It didn't take him long to reach the house, and he parked haphazardly in the drive. Evening had fallen, and Mina waited on the front steps.  
  
"Vlad!" Mina virtually flew down the steps and over to him, throwing herself into his arms.  
  
He caught her and held her close, murmuring softly in his native tongue things she only vaguely understood.  
  
"She's so sick, Vlad. They've given her two transfusions, she was that low, but she doesn't seem to be getting better. Will you come see her?"  
  
"Yes, of course. Just tell me how to get there."  
  
They reached the hospital twenty minutes later. Visitor hours weren't over yet. Lucy was in the intensive care, hooked up to a bevy of machines.  
  
Vlad was solemn as he studied the prone figure in the hospital bed. "Has she woken?"  
  
"She's been awake off and on," Mina whispered. "But she sleeps a lot. The doctors say she was almost dead when I found her."  
  
"It's good that you found her when you did, then." He approached the bed, where Mrs. Westenra sat beside her daughter. He quietly introduced himself, then moved to stand on Lucy's other side.  
  
Her hand was like ice in his, despite the blankets they'd piled on her and the blood that dripped through an IV.  
  
"The doctors don't know what happened. It's not anemia. There was some blood on her pillow, but not enough to explain . . . this," the ill woman's mother told him.  
  
"I'm sure the doctors will find an answer," Mina said. "Do you need anything?"  
  
"Not right now, dear, thank you. You should go home for a bit, spend some time with your husband."  
  
Mina knew when she was being dismissed. She took Vlad's hand and they returned to the car.  
  
"My concern," Vlad told her, "is how the creature got in."  
  
"Balcony," Mina sighed. "Lu has a big balcony just off her room. How could I have been so stupid? It broke into my apartment in Bucharest, didn't it?"  
  
"I'm afraid so."  
  
They arrived back at the house, and Vlad immediately set about checking all windows and doors. Mina's room, the one she'd grown up in, had windows facing south and no balcony, so while sunlight would filter in, it wasn't direct sunbeams that could harm Vlad.  
  
"Why do you suppose it went after Lucy, and not me?" Mina asked him.  
  
"Because I've been protecting you, most likely. Not that vampires usually have a sense of . . . propriety. Even my oldest friend wanted to eat my son after he turned."  
  
Mina sat on the bed and folded her legs up. "How did you retain who you are?"  
  
"Sheer force of personal will, I suppose." Vlad drew the curtains on the window 'til there was no chance of a sunbeam getting through, and went to join her on the bed. "That is one thing that worries me in thinking of turning you someday. I think you have enough sense of self to not lose it, but the fear is there."  
  
She bit her lip, then asked, "What's going to happen to Lucy?"  
  
"I don't know, Mina. Either she'll pull through or she won't. I don't think the vampire can get to her at the hospital, so she's safest there. But as soon as she comes home, she's in danger."  
  
"She can't stay in hospital forever," Mina pointed out. "So do we let her come home and then stand guard over her, hoping for the other vampire to show up?"  
  
"That's all I can see working," her husband sighed. "I'm loath to use her as bait, but . . ."  
  
"But how else do we draw it out?" Mina reached over and rubbed his shoulder gently. "You're here now. We'll figure it out."  
  
He twisted and pulled her into his arms. They lay together in the dark for a while, just holding each other.  
  
"I need sleep," he said after a while. "I've been awake far too long."  
  
Mina, who was too wired to sleep, said, "Go to bed. I'll join you in a little while. I think I need some tea."  
  
Her husband crawled under the covers as she got up. "How is the child?" he asked, addressing her pregnancy for the first time since arriving.  
  
"I've been pregnant longer than Bella Swan, so I think my chances of a sparklebaby are nil," she said, and he chuckled. "Everything's fine, so far as I'm aware."  
  
When she returned from having her tea, she found Vlad still awake and staring at the ceiling.  
  
"Can't sleep?" she asked.  
  
"No." He shifted as she slid into bed. Vlad put his head on her stomach, his ear just above her pubic bone, where their child was. After a moment, he grinned.  
  
"What?"  
  
Vlad lifted his head. "I can hear its heartbeat."  
  
"That's some hearing you've got," she said, and yawned. "I should probably see if I can get an ultrasound. Maybe I'll drop by the women's clinic at the hospital when I go see Lucy tomorrow."  
  
Occupied in listening to the baby's heartbeat, Vlad only murmured in response. Mina ran her fingers through his hair.  
  
She tried to take comfort in his assurances that everything would be alright, but she was scared for Lucy, scared for herself, and most of all, scared for her baby.  
  
"Distract me," she said to Vlad. "I've so much going on in my head."  
  
He crawled up the length of her body, kneeling over her. "Did you have any particular distractions in mind?"  
  
"We've been apart too long," she said. "What do you think?"  
  


* * *

 

  
Vlad settled against her, his kiss slow and sweet. Mina murmured approval and ran her hands over his bare back. He ground his hips against hers and her breath hitched.  
  
"Vlad," she gasped against his mouth. "Please."  
  
"Please, what?" He nipped at her jaw and down her neck, making her shudder. He grinned and pressed a kiss to her collarbone, licking the hollow of her throat.  
  
Her fingers found his muscled shoulders and curved around them. "I need you to fuck me," she whispered.  
  
He lifted his head, eyes dark with desire. That was something Mirena would never have said. He caught her hands and lifted them above her head, holding his weight on his elbows.  
  
"Say please," he purred.  
  
Mina laughed breathlessly. "Please?"  
  
"Mmm." He sat up. "Don't move."  
  
"Not even to take my clothes off?"  
  
"Just the top."  
  
Wondering what he was up to, Mina sat up and removed her pajama top. Vlad climbed off the bed and, completely nude as he slept that way, fetched the tie to Mina's robe. When he came back, he instructed her to lie on her stomach.  
  
When she did, he tied her hands loosely to the brass headboard.  
  
"Kinky," she commented.  
  
He kissed the back of her neck. "You wanted distraction."  
  
"I did," Mina agreed. "Now what?"  
  
He eased the silly satin shorts she wore over her hips and down her legs. She was bare underneath. Vlad pulled her hips up and nudged her legs apart. Bending over her, he parted her with his fingers and teased her with light strokes, coming close to but not touching her clit.  
  
"Vlad," she groaned.  
  
He slid one finger inside her as he lightly bit the nape of her neck. She made a high mewling sound and rocked against his hand. After a moment, he added a second finger.  
  
"Unnh." Pressing her forehead against the pillows, Mina clenched down on his fingers. "Please don't torture me."  
  
He laughed wickedly, still slowly sliding his fingers in and out of her tight heat.  
  
"I need you," she told him. "Please."  
  
Vlad withdrew his hand and shifted a little, to tease her with the hard length of his erection. She sucked in a breath. Pushing up on her arms as far as the tie would allow, Mina grabbed the headboard.  
  
He shoved into her with one thrust. Mina pressed her forehead to the headboard and groaned.  
  
"Did I hurt you?" he asked, concerned.  
  
"No," she breathed. "Don't stop."  
  
Vlad slid his hands up her body to cup her breasts. She made a sound of approval when he toyed with her nipples.  
  
"Not too much," she told him. "Very . . . sensitive."  
  
"Mm." One hand snaked down her belly and between her legs, his fingers finding her clit. "How about here?"  
  
Her fingers fluttered around the brass bars of the headboard. "Oh, god. Vlad. Harder."  
  
With one hand braced on the headboard, he stroked her with the other, increasing his thrusts until Mina was gasping. He did so love to give her pleasure.  
  
"Vlad, I'm going to-" She arched beneath him, hands tightening on the headboard 'til her knuckles went white. "Unnh!"  
  
He gave a few more rolls of his hips, until he found completion himself. Then he withdrew, and untied Mina.  
  
"Mm. That was fun," she told him. "But next time, I get to tie _you_ up."  
  
He chuckled. "It's a deal."

 

* * *

 

  
  
The next morning, Mina left Vlad sleeping and went to visit Lucy in the hospital. Her friend had made a little progress in the night, and was awake.  
  
"They're moving me to a different ward," Lucy told her when Mina arrived.  
  
"That's great news!" Mina leaned down to hug her friend. "I'm so glad to see you're doing better. I've been so worried."  
  
Lucy patted her hand. "Mum says you've been here all the time. That can't be good for your baby."  
  
"My baby is fine," Mina said, and inwardly, she hoped it was so. "In fact, I'm going downstairs to see if I can get an appointment for an ultrasound."  
  
"Isn't there a waiting list for that?"  
  
"Probably."  
  
Mina excused herself so the staff could take care of Lucy, and she wandered down a few flights to the women's centre. By some minor miracle, there had been a cancellation and no one had been available to fill it. She suspected that she was self-pay and not on the NHS wait list helped get her the slot.  
  
She was told that she was seven weeks pregnant, and that everything seemed normal. The picture she was given confused Mina until the ultrasound technician drew an outline around the baby.  
  
Suddenly, it all seemed real to Mina, and she couldn't stop smiling. There was no sign there was anything wrong with her tiny little baby.  
  
Mina considered finding Lucy's new room and showing her, but she wanted Vlad to see first. She drove the car she'd borrowed back to the house and ran up to their room, where she prodded her husband until he woke.  
  
When Vlad groggily lifted his head to see what she needed, she presented him with the ultrasound picture.  
  
"What is this?" he asked.  
  
"It's our baby," she told him. "There's not much to see yet, but this is its head, and these are its hands, and here are the feet."  
  
Vlad's eyes went wide. "It has a tail. Why does it have a tail?"  
  
"Babies do for a little while. It'll go away."  
  
"So what did the doctor say?"  
  
She told him everything, from when her estimated due date was to how big the baby was, and how everything looked perfect.  
  
"So you don't need to worry anymore," he said gently. "Everything is fine."  
  
"It's hard to tell if it'll stay perfect, with how tiny it is, but . . ."  
  
"No sparklebaby," he teased.  
  
"No sparklebaby," she agreed, and she smiled.  
  


* * *

 

  
Lucy was in the hospital for several more days, mostly so the doctors could try to figure out what had caused her severe blood loss. Mina was there every day to see her, and Vlad came every evening before the end of visiting hours.  
  
"They're releasing me tomorrow!" Lucy told them cheerfully, when Vlad came to pick Mina up. "I'm so ready to go home."  
  
"I can imagine," Mina said. "Being cooped up like this isn't fun."  
  
"Have the doctors come to any conclusion as to what happened?" Vlad asked Lucy.  
  
She shook her head. "No. That worries me. But I'm feeling alright now. I'm so thankful to you, Mina, for getting me help so quickly!"  
  
"Like I was going to let you lie there and die," Mina rasped. "You're my sister."  
  
The nurse came and shooed them out. Hand in hand, Mina and Vlad walked to the car. The car park was bathed in shadows. Mina pressed close, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.  
  
"Vlad," she whispered. "We're being followed."  
  
"I know," he murmured.  
  
They continued on towards the car, which seemed a lot further away than Vlad remembered parking it.  
  
Out of the darkness, there was a wild yell, and a man threw himself at Vlad, knocking him into the wall of the hospital garage.  
  
"I will end your reign now, vampire!" The man whipped out a stake and tried to shove it into Vlad's chest.


	15. Chapter 15

**\--Chapter Fifteen--**  
  
Without thinking, Mina threw herself at the grey-haired man, shoving him away from Vlad. "Don't you dare hurt him!"  
  
Surprised by her ferocity, the man turned. This gave Vlad the upper hand, and he caught the man around the neck.  
  
"Who are you?" he demanded. He was upset enough to show fang.  
  
"I am Abraham Van Helsing," the man choked out. "And I am on a mission against the dark."  
  
Vlad snarled. "I am not the one you seek, Van Helsing. But I will not hesitate to end you if you try to harm me again."  
  
Mina took the stake away and threw it off into the shadows. "Vlad, calm down. Obviously, he thinks you're the other one."  
  
"What other?" Van Helsing asked.  
  
She narrowed blue eyes at him. "There are two vampires, you idiot. The one that's killing people, and my husband. Who, incidently, is _not_ killing people. Unless I let him kill you."  
  
"Let me?" Vlad repeated.  
  
"Oh, please. We both know you'll do what I ask." Mina glared at the human. "Why have you been following us? How did you figure out what Vlad is?"  
  
He glowered back at her.  
  
"Vlad, darling." Mina put her hand on his arm. "He's disarmed, he can't hurt you."  
  
Vlad snorted and loosened his grip on Van Helsing, just enough that the human could breath properly. "Answer her questions, or I'll make you regret keeping your silence."  
  
Van Helsing sucked in a huge breath, and didn't respond for several moments. Finally, he said, "I saw you at the hospital, visiting the sick girl. I know what you are, vampire, because I have spent my life in study of your kind."  
  
"Study of my kind. How?"  
  
"You think you are the only vampire out there? Not so! There are many. And I have hunted them."  
  
"So have I," Vlad growled. "I have killed more of my kind than you could in a lifetime, old man."  
  
"Out of curiosity," Mina asked Van Helsing, "how many vampires _have_ you killed?"  
  
The human turned to look at her. His brown eyes were bloodshot, probably from his neck having been grabbed so forcefully by Vlad. "Three."  
  
Vlad burst out laughing. "I have definitely killed more than you. I killed twenty in a day, human. Tell me that I'm the kind you need to destroy. I tried to destroy _myself_."  
  
It hurt Mina to hear him say those things, though she knew they were true. He'd told her himself the very night she'd discovered what he was. She wanted to put her arms around him, and hug him as tightly as she could, but this wasn't the time or place.  
  
"But you are a vampire."  
  
"Again, how did you know that?" Mina demanded.  
  
"I have watched for days. I know that you avoid the sun and only come out at night." Van Helsing nodded. "Besides, he has the fangs."  
  
Well, there was that.  
  
"Still," Vlad said, "I am not the one you seek. Do you even know who I am?"  
  
After a moment, Van Helsing shook his head.  
  
"I am Vlad Dracula," the vampire told him. "You know that name, don't you?"  
  
"Yes," Van Helsing hissed. "But you are supposed to be legend only."  
  
"See, that's why I said when he told me," Mina said.  
  
Her husband narrowed hazel eyes at her. "Sorry," she said.  
  
"The infamous Dracula is _hunting_ vampires?" Van Helsing was incredulous.  
  
"Who better?" Vlad asked, voice almost a purr. Mina touched his arm again, to curb the killing instinct. "After all, I'm very, very good with a stake."  
  
His wife cleared her throat. "Perhaps we'd better take this discussion elsewhere? We're discussing vampires and killing people in public, after all."  
  
"Good idea." Vlad stepped back, one hand an iron grip on Van Helsing's arm. "You're coming with us. I would suggest you don't argue."  
  
Knowing that Vlad could kill him at any moment if he protested, the man just nodded.

 

* * *

 

  
  
Since there wasn't really anywhere else to go, they escorted Van Helsing back to the Westenra house. They found Lucy's mother there, with Lucy's fiancé, having just finished a late supper.  
  
"And who is this?" Mrs. Westenra asked, of Van Helsing.  
  
"A friend," Mina said quickly. "He's got some ideas as to Lucy's illness."  
  
"Vampire!" Van Helsing burst out.  
  
Mina facepalmed.  
  
At the surprised and confused looks on Arthur and Mrs. Westenra's faces, Van Helsing turned to Mina. "They do not know what attacked her?"  
  
"Attacked?" Arthur repeated. "What is this lunatic going on about?"  
  
Vlad caught Van Helsing by the back of his tweed jacket. He looked at Mina, who shrugged.  
  
"Fine, old man," Vlad said. "Tell them your theory."  
  
Van Helsing tried to straighten his jacket, but Vlad's grip prevented it. "Clearly, Miss Westenra has been attacked by a vampire. Her blood was drained, no?"  
  
The German looked from face to face and heaved a sigh. "You do not believe me. Ask the Impaler, then." He pointed his finger over his shoulder.  
  
"I should have killed you," Vlad muttered. He shoved Van Helsing towards a chair. "Sit."  
  
Mrs. Westenra looked to Mina. "What on earth is going on, Mina? What's this talk of vampires?"  
  
Mina sighed. "This is going to sound insane, I know, but we think Lucy was attacked by a vampire that followed her from Romania."  
  
"You're right," Arthur burst out, "that is _completely_ mad!"  
  
"Yes," Van Helsing agreed, "but also true."  
  
In the better light, Mina could see that he was of average height, a little padded around the middle, with greying brown hair and a mustache that was mostly grey. Dressed in a brown and grey tweed suit, he looked . . . so plain and ordinary that she couldn't believe he was some kind of vampire hunter.  
  
"If you do not believe me, ask the Impaler if it is true." Van Helsing glared at Vlad. "Is it not, Țepeș?"  
  
Arthur looked at Vlad. "Impaler? What does 'zay-pesh' mean?"  
  
"It means 'impaler'. It's a . . . nickname." Vlad looked at Mina, who nodded this time.  
  
"Van Helsing is correct," he said firmly. "Lucy was attacked by a vampire. I am hunting it."  
  
"You're crazy," Arthur said.  
  
Vlad bared his fangs at him, and his eyes went black. "Am I?" he demanded.  
  
Mrs. Westenra fainted. Mina went to her, kneeling on the floor. "You could have been a little less dramatic," she scolded her husband.  
  
"I'm a vampire," he retorted. "My entire existence is dramatic."  
  
Arthur backed up until he hit the sofa, and then he collapsed on it. His face was pale under blonde curls. "You're- you're-"  
  
"My name is Dracula," Vlad said curtly. "Yes. _That_ Dracula. Something left my territory and followed Lucy here, and I intend to find it and kill it, hopefully before it kills or turns her."  
  
Van Helsing was staring at Mina now. "You are married to Dracula, yes?"  
  
She spared him a glance as Mrs. Westenra stirred. "Not that it's your business, but yes."  
  
"And you trust him?"  
  
"Implicitly. Why?"  
  
"There is rumour he killed his first wife, you know."  
  
Mina snorted. "The Turks killed Mirena. They pushed her off a tower at Cosia Monastery in Transylvania."  
  
Vlad nearly gave himself whiplash, turning to look at Mina. _That_ he knew he had never told her.  
  
Van Helsing caught the look, and studied Mina thoughtfully. "My question is, why would vampire follow Miss Lucy to London, when there are so many others in Romania?"  
  
"To get away from me," Vlad growled. "I hunted and killed one of its . . . companions in Bucharest."  
  
"Likely," Van Helsing agreed. "But also, perhaps, to draw you out? London is not your territory. Romania is. You are familiar with the land and the people there. Here, not so much."  
  
Mina helped Mrs. Westenra sit up. The woman looked with alarm at Vlad. "It's alright," Mina assured her. "Vlad is a _good_ vampire."  
  
"Goodness," her foster mother breathed. "It's true."  
  
"Yes, unfortunately, it's true."  
  
Van Helsing said, "You know that if Miss Lucy comes home, the creature will come for her again."  
  
"It can try," Vlad said.  
  
Arthur roused from his stupour. "And how do you plan to protect Lucy?"  
  
"I am Vlad the Third, of the house of Drăculești. I am Țepeș. I fought thousands of Turks singlehandedly and won. You think I cannot handle one vampire?"  
  
"You haven't done a bang-up job so far!" Arthur yelled. "I don't care _who_ you say you are."  
  
Mina rose and went to her husband, who looked livid. "Vlad. He's just angry."  
  
"He has a point. I should have known a vampire had attacked her the first time."  
  
"We were distracted by the one killing people," she reminded him.  
  
He wrapped an arm around her, so that he couldn't reach for Lucy's fiance.  
  
"Besides, what's past is past. We need to worry about what comes next," Mina continued. "Lucy comes home tomorrow. We need to figure out how best to keep her safe. Mr. Van Helsing, I think it would be best if you were to stay here for the time being. Did you have a car at the hospital?"  
  
"No," he said. "I took bus."  
  
Mrs. Westenra stood and looked around the room. "This is a strange evening. I think I'm going to have a drink and then go to bed."  
  
Arthur pointed at Vlad. "I'm not leaving _you_ alone here."  
  
Vlad started to speak, but Mina cut him off. "I think that's a good idea. We all know what's happening, so if we're all together, we can brainstorm faster."  
  
Van Helsing nodded in approval. "A smart woman, you are."  
  
"I'm Mina, by the way," she told the German man. "Mina Murray."  
  
"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Murray."  
  
Taking over as hostess, Mina said, "I'll help you find a room. Arthur, I'm assuming you're staying in Lucy's rooms?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Alright. I suggest everyone get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we go to work."


	16. Chapter 16

**\--Chapter Sixteen--**  
  
"Did I do the right thing?"  
  
Mina paused in removing her earrings, watching her husband in the bathroom mirror. "Doing what?"  
  
"Revealing that I'm a vampire."  
  
"You didn't have much choice. You needed to convince Arthur and Eleanor, and Van Helsing outed you, anyway. What an odious little man," she sighed.  
  
Vlad paced the small room. "I don't feel safe with him under the same roof, but I also feel we need to keep an eye on him."  
  
Mina carried her earrings back into the bedroom and put the earrings away in her small jewelry case. She changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed.  
  
"I'm afraid for you," she told Vlad. "I'm afraid that he'll try to hurt you again."  
  
"I'm aware of him now," he said. "And I'm going to spend tonight checking the house for vulnerabilities.  
  
He tucked her in, gave her a kiss. "Sleep well, _iubita mea_. I'll be back soon."  
  
"I don't sleep well without you."  
  
"Mina, lately you haven't been sleeping well anyway." Vlad stroked a finger down her cheek. "I'll be back."  
  
He left her to attempt to sleep, and went to check all the windows and doors to make sure they were as secure as could be. When he ran into Arthur outside what he presumed was Lucy's room, he said, "Lock the balcony door if it's not already, and put heavy furniture in front of it."  
  
The human eyed him suspiciously, then sighed. "Lucy has an old broad dresser that might work, but it's too much for one man to move."  
  
"May I?"  
  
Arthur let Vlad into the suite. He saw the old dresser immediately, and went to it. In moments, he had the big, heavy dresser moved to block the balcony doors.  
  
". . . You're rather strong," Arthur commented.  
  
"So is the enemy," Vlad reminded him. "This won't stop them if they're really determined, but it should slow them enough that you can come to me for help."  
  
"Why _are_ you helping us? If you're a vampire, too?"  
  
Vlad studied the blonde man for a moment before he said, "I chose this to protect my family. But I would not wish this existence on anyone who could not handle the burden of the thirst. I've seen what it does to those not strong enough to keep themselves. They become beasts."  
  
"So you, ah, take care of those beasts?"  
  
"I haven't had to in five hundred years," the vampire told him. "But yes."  
  
"So that's why you're helping us. To get rid of an uncontrollable vampire."  
  
Vlad nodded. "And because Mina, my bride, cares for Lucy very much. Anyone who is Mina's is also mine, and I protect what's mine."  
  
Arthur was silent for a while, grey eyes assessing. "You put a lot of trust in me and Mrs. Westenra, telling us what you are."  
  
"I did," Vlad agreed. "Do not make me regret it."

 

* * *

 

  
  
Mina rose early, craving a glass of milk, hoping it would settle her stomach. Her morning sickness was sometimes only a vague queasy feeling that lasted all day. She hoped today was one of those and that she wouldn't throw up. She hated throwing up.  
  
"You know things about Mirena Drăculești that Vlad has not told you," Van Helsing said from the kitchen door.  
  
Mina set down her glass and, frowning, turned to him. She wasn't pleased he was speaking to her, but she was curious about what he had to say. "How did you know that?"  
  
"I saw, last night. You know things, and it disturbs him."  
  
"I keep dreaming of her. I think she's haunting me."  
  
The German shook his head. "I have a theory," Van Helsing said, "that you are not haunted by ghost of this first wife."  
  
"What is your thought, then?"  
  
"That you are remembering a past life. That you are this Mirena reborn."  
  
Every hair on Mina's body stood on end. "What?"  
  
"Ghosts visit," he told her. "They speak if they can. They do not give dreams, as far as I know. But memories . . . Ahh. Memories surface, no matter how repressed."  
  
Mina tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and looked seriously at the older man. "How could that be?"  
  
"You know things, so many things, Vlad does not tell you. I think it frightens him that you know these things."  
  
Her brow furrowed. "You think he suspects I'm Mirena?"  
  
"It is possible."  
  
"How . . ." Her voice cracked. "How would I find out?"  
  
"I can hypnotize," Van Helsing said. "Make you remember."  
  
She looked down at her wedding ring, remembering the weight on her right hand of a ring that had never been there, and then back up at Van Helsing. "Do it."  
  


* * *

 

 

At mid-day, Arthur brought Lucy home from the hospital. Mina was unusually quiet as she helped get Lucy settled in her room. She was unsettled and consumed by her thoughts.  
  
"Are we going to tell her?" Arthur asked in a whisper, while Lu was in the bathroom.  
  
"I don't know. I don't know if she's strong enough to handle it."  
  
Mina left Arthur to get Lucy put to bed. Van Helsing hovered in the hallway, wanting to put garlic by her balcony door.  
  
"That doesn't work," she sighed. "Crosses might, but they don't on Vlad, so that's no guarantee."  
  
"What about holy water?" Van Helsing asked.  
  
"I've no idea, honestly. I haven't asked. And before _you_ do, no, my husband doesn't sleep in a coffin, so I doubt that this one we're hunting does, either."  
  
"There goes my plan to find its lair and slay it in its sleep," the German muttered.  
  
"They're also not dead during the day," Mina told him. "They can wake just as humans can. Unless we're hunting a different kind than Vlad."  
  
"All die if you take their head or their heart," he replied.  
  
She glared at him. "If you even _think_ of hurting my husband, I will kill you."

 

* * *

  

  
Vlad woke at sundown. When he sat up, he saw Mina stood by the window, looking out at the dark. He rose, shirtless, to join her.  
  
What she said when he did, though, stunned him.  
  
"Who am I, Vlad?" Her eyes searched his face. “I’m Mirena, aren’t I? That’s why you . . . chose me. I’m her, born again."  
  
His mouth dropped open, but no words could emerge. When had she put it together? _How_? "I think so," he said finally.  
  
"When were you planning on telling me? You weren't, were you?”  
  
"I suspected only. I didn't know _how_ to tell you."  
  
"Do you even love me, or is it Mirena still?"  
  
Vlad closed his eyes, turned his head away for a moment. “The resemblance caught my eye. But I swear to you, Mina, I fell in love with _you_.”  
  
Her laugh was a little bitter. “But then, does it really matter?” she asked. “If I’m Mirena reincarnated, what does it really matter if you love her or me? We’re the same person.”  
  
“It matters,” he told her. “You are Mina Murray, whether or not you were Mirena Drăculești in a previous life. Mina is who you are _now_. That you remember being Mirena only . . . only adds to what we have.”  
  
“Does it? Or would you rather have her?”  
  
“Mina,” he growled with exasperation. “Mirena died. I held her in my arms and I drank her blood-”  
  
“And became a vampire. Yes. I know.” She raked her hands through her short blonde hair. “I know, Vlad, because I _remember_. But how can I keep being _me_ when I have so much of _her_?”  
  
"You have memories," he told her. "But memories are not who you _are_. Tell me, _iubita mea_ , if a mugger attacked you now, what would you do?"  
  
"Kick him in the bollocks," she responded automatically.  
  
"Mirena would not have done that," he told her. "She would have called for me."  
  
Mina snorted, knowing that was true. "She was kind of a girly girl, wasn't she?"  
  
"She was a lady, and until the Turks came, had never seen fighting."  
  
He took her in his arms. She was stiff for several moments, then relaxed against him.  
  
"How did you . . . put it together?" he asked her. "I was only just suspecting myself."  
  
That was a bit of a lie, but he couldn't tell her that he'd thought it for weeks.  
  
"Van Helsing," Mina said. "He hypnotized me, and . . . I remember a lot. Not everything, but . . . Some things from when she was young, mostly things from when she and you were married. Especially things that were recent to her, before . . . she died."  
  
She'd almost said "I died", and that rattled her. "He . . . he said more might emerge. It's so strange in my head right now, Vlad."  
  
He kissed the top of her head. "It's alright, Mina. Just talk to me."  
  
She spoke slowly, carefully, to keep the flood of everything as contained and separate as she could. "I tried to be mad at you, but I just can't. I love you. And . . . she loved you. So much. When you . . . made that deal with the thing on Broken Tooth Mountain, and you told her, she was so scared. But she loved you. And she trusted you."  
  
"Did . . . When she fell . . ."  
  
"She didn't blame you. You tried." Mina drew back, looked up at him. "I don't . . . have everything. I don't have when she . . . died. Not . . . yet."  
  
"I would rather you not ever experience that," he told her honestly. "Mina, my Mina, I am so sorry. How confusing this must be for you."  
  
"You must be delighted, though." She said it without rancour, just stating a fact. Inside, though, her heart hurt.  
  
He ran his hands over her hair. "I thought I would be, if I ever somehow got her back. But I would never want that at your expense, Mina. Never."  
  
"I can't sleep," she confessed. "I tried to nap after Lucy came home, but every time I close my eyes, I'm falling."  
  
His arms enfolded her. In all his musings and hopes that she was his Mirena come back to him, he hadn't really considered how that would affect Mina. He should have known that she would suffer for it.  
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "If I could help you, my Mina, I would. But I don't know how."  
  
"Curse Van Helsing," she said against his chest. "If he hadn't talked me into getting hypnotized, I wouldn't have this mess in my head. I feel like I'm going crazy, Vlad."  
  
Vlad was tempted to go find the German and beat him senseless, but his concern now was for Mina. "I'll help you sort through it. Just talk to me when you're having trouble."  
  
He guided her to the bed. They spent the next several hours sorting through the wealth of new and confusing memories. Mina laughed at memories that weren't quite hers, and wept over the loss of people she had never known.  
  
At last, she slept without fear of the sensation of falling. When she was soundly asleep, Vlad rose and went in search of Van Helsing.  
  
He found the man in his room, going over papers he'd retrieved from somewhere during the day.  
  
"Interesting reading?" he inquired.  
  
"Yes, quite. I found old papers, very old, that talk of Roman legends of the vampire."  
  
Vlad closed the distance between them in three strides, yanked Van Helsing out of his chair, and slammed him against the wall.  
  
"What did you do to my wife?" he growled.  
  
"I helped her! That is all."  
  
"She feels like she's going insane," Vlad hissed, and shook the man. "If the memories had surfaced naturally, she could have eased into the idea, but you had to go and unlock everything."  
  
Van Helsing smirked. "You were lying to her, no? Lying to the woman you claim to love."  
  
"You know _nothing_ about me and Mina!"  
  
"I know she carries the memories of your wife, as well as your child. Do you not think she deserves to know the truth?"  
  
"What do you think this is going to _do_ to Mina?" Vlad demanded to know. "To suddenly have two sets of memories? Did you not think of what that would do to her mental state before you went messing around in her head?"  
  
"Mina is a strong woman-"  
  
"Yes, she is, which is the only reason she's not gibbering in the hospital right now!" Vlad thundered. "She isn't prepared for this, Van Helsing!"  
  
The other man pushed Vlad away, and it was only due to Vlad's constant control of the beast inside him that he even let himself be pushed. "She will adjust, in time."  
  
"Will she? How do you know?"  
  
"I am psychologist-"  
  
"Which I know is not someone who _treats_ people. You just study their brains. How do I help her, Van Helsing? She cried herself to sleep over a handmaid who died five hundred years ago!"  
  
Van Helsing shrugged. "I do not know. I do not specialize in past lives. I merely thought I could help her know for certain."  
  
"Give me _one_ reason I shouldn't kill you right here, right now."  
  
"What's all the shouting about?"  
  
Mina stood in the doorway, Mrs. Westenra behind her. Immediately, Vlad let go of Van Helsing and went to his wife.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was . . . discussing things with Van Helsing."  
  
Mrs. Westenra asked, "Is it about the vampire?"  
  
"Not in this instance, no." Vlad slid his arm around Mina's waist. "Come back to bed, _iubita mea_."  
  
They left Van Helsing to his own devices, and bid Mrs. Westenra good night. Vlad escorted Mina back to their room.  
  
"You were yelling at him for hypnotizing me, weren't you?" Mina asked, once they were in private.  
  
". . . Yes, I was. If we could have . . . worked through the memories as they surfaced gradually, perhaps you wouldn't feel so confused."  
  
She sighed and stretched out on the bed. "Maybe. Of course, you would have had to tell me you thought I'm the reincarnation of Mirena first."  
  
"How was I supposed to do that?" he asked her. "I couldn't think of a way that didn't end with you running the other way. 'Oh, hello, you look like my dead wife. Join me for dinner?'"  
  
Mina laughed. "Okay, that shouldn't be funny, but oh, if you'd said that, I wouldn't have given you the time of day."  
  
"Precisely! I never wanted to hurt you, Mina. And I mean it when I say that I love _you_. I loved Mirena. Part of me will always love her, and it means a great deal to me that her memories are not lost forever, because . . . I have someone to talk to about Ingeras. About the things I miss. You're the only one in this world who can understand what I lived through. But Mina, _soția mea_ , I did not marry the ghost of Mirena. I married Mina Murray. I _want_ Mina Murray."  
  
Vlad moved to lie beside her. "Please tell me you're not angry with me, _dragă_."  
  
"Not angry, exactly. A little hurt that you didn't trust me." She put a hand to her temple and closed her eyes. "I'm getting such a headache, and I can't take anything for it because of the baby."  
  
He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and rubbed in light circles. "Try to relax. Go back to sleep."  
  
"Easier said than done," she said on a yawn. But she was out in minutes.  
  
Vlad, however, was awake 'til dawn, consumed with worry.


	17. Chapter 17

**\--Chapter Seventeen--**  
  
Lucy made it through the night with nothing happening. When Mina joined her for a late breakfast, she wondered if the vampire would move on to someone else now, or if it would just bide its time.  
  
"Who," Lucy asked, "is the strange little man lurking around the house?"  
  
"That's Dr. Van Helsing. He's a German professor who . . . studies rare illnesses."  
  
"Oh, like mine?"  
  
"Exactly." Mina put down her fork. "Lucy, we need to talk-"  
  
"-About my wedding! I've lost so much time in the hospital, I need to plan-"  
  
Mina held up a hand. "Yes, we do need to work on that. But we need to talk about what happened to you."  
  
"You mean my mysterious blood loss?" Lucy sighed. "I've talked and talked about it with the doctors, and they don't know what happened."  
  
" _We_ do," Mina told her.  
  
"Who is 'we'?" Lucy bit a piece of toast and chewed on it for a moment. "This Van Helsing man?"  
  
"Vlad and I knew first. Lucy . . . you were bitten by a vampire."  
  
Lucy immediately coughed and nearly choked on her toast. "Excuse me? Did you lose your mind in Romania?"  
  
"No, I didn't. Vlad is also a vampire, but he's not the one that attacked you. He's hunting for the one that did."  
  
Her friend stared at her. "Seriously, Mina, you are completely mental."  
  
"No, she isn't," Arthur said, as he came into the dining room. "Vlad _is_ a vampire, and you _were_ attacked by one."  
  
"I'm in a coma and I'm dreaming this," Lucy said.  
  
In her head, Mina thought, People accepted this so much more easily in 1462 . . .  
  
"I'm afraid not," she said aloud. "Van Helsing is a vampire hunter. And Arthur and your mother have both seen Vlad in his, ah, vampire form."  
  
"I am not believing any of this until you can prove it." Lucy folded her arms like a petulant child. "You're just messing with me because I've been sick."  
  
"If Vlad is awake, I can prove it." Mina went to the dining room door and called, "Vlad, darling, if you're awake, could you come to the dining room? And do the thing with the bats."  
  
"Bats?" Lucy repeated.  
  
Vlad padded into view, barefoot and shirtless, at the top of the stairs. "I'm not a show-and-tell presentation, Mina."  
  
"Please? Lucy doesn't believe me."  
  
He sighed. "Alright."  
  
Then he swept down the stairs and into the dining room as a swarm of bats, flew around the room as far as he could--avoiding the windows. He landed and transformed back into himself near Mina.  
  
Lucy gaped. So did Arthur.  
  
Vlad rolled his eyes at his wife. "Can I go back to bed now?"  
  
"Thank you," she said. "And yes."  
  
Grumbling under his breath, he left.  
  
Mina turned to the others. "Vampire," she said.  
  
Lucy turned to Arthur. "I think I need a drink."  
  
Arthur got up and went to the sideboard, where a variety of liquors sat. He poured Lucy a brandy.  
  
As he handed it to her, Lucy said, "Wait. If Vlad's a vampire, what does that make your baby?"  
  
"Well . . ."  
  
Whatever Mina had been about to say was cut off when a flood of images and sounds overcame her.  
  
 _"Vlad! I'm with child!"_  
  
 _A baby wailed._  
  
 _A toddler scampered naked away from her, soaking wet and shrieking gleefully._  
  
 _Vlad's hand slid over her swollen stomach, and he bent his head to kiss where their child grew. "He'll be a strong leader."_  
  
 _She laughed. "He? And if it's a girl?"_  
  
 _Herself, screaming with the effort of pushing-_  
  
Mina came back to herself sitting on the floor, with Vlad kneeling beside her. He held both of her hands in his, and was white as a ghost.  
  
"Mina? Mina!"  
  
"I'm- I'm alright. I . . ." She shook her head. "I think I fainted."  
  
"You were _screaming_ ," Lucy told her. She, too, was pale. "What happened?"  
  
Ignoring her, Vlad swept Mina up in his arms. "You need to rest. Now."  
  
He carried her up the stairs and to their room. After depositing her on the bed, he locked the door.  
  
"What happened?" he asked her. "You scared me nearly to death."  
  
She snorted, then choked back a sob. "So many memories. It overwhelmed me. I can't sort through it."  
  
Mina pulled at her hair and groaned. "Make it stop, Vlad! I can't take it!"  
  
He gathered her in his arms. "Shh. Concentrate on my voice, Mina. Just my voice."  
  
"I can't. I'm trying, but there's so much in my head!"  
  
He was going to kill Van Helsing the first chance he got. "I know, _iubita mea_. Think of something else. You were doing alright. What triggered it?"  
  
Mina tried to focus, but her thoughts were a jumble. "I told Lucy about the vampire. I was fine until . . ."  
  
"Until?"  
  
"I don't know. I . . ." She sighed. "I just got hit with a big wave of memories. For a minute, I wasn't sure where or . . . or who I am."  
  
Gently, Vlad rubbed her arm, slowly rocking her back and forth as he would Ingeras when his son had had a bad dream. "What memories were they?"  
  
"I was . . . _She_ was . . ." Mina shook her head vehemently. "She'd just found out she was pregnant, and she was telling you. Then it's all a big tangle. Being pregnant, holding a baby. Bits of Ingeras as a little boy. None of it's in a coherent order. I can't make sense of it."  
  
She looked up at him, blue eyes pleading. "Don't let me go crazy."  
  
He wasn't sure he could stop that kind of thing, but he said, "Never. Talk me through the memories. I'll try to help you put them in order."  
  
On her side, legs drawn up, Mina began to speak. She related a memory, and he told her, if he knew, when and where it had taken place. Some she knew, others were just snatches she couldn't hold on to.  
  
"I feel like I'm trying to recall a film I only caught pieces of," she told him. "And . . . You ever dream something where you're watching yourself, but you _are_ yourself at the same time?"  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
"It's all like that. It makes it so hard to concentrate."  
  
She took several deep breaths. "I feel like I've been asleep, and I don't know what's a dream I had and what's real."  
  
Vlad pulled her against him, curling protectively around her. "In time, we can sort it out. I should kill that meddling German."  
  
"You think he . . . had another motive than helping me, don't you?"  
  
"He doesn't like me. And he knew he couldn't help you when he did it. He admitted as much last night."  
  
Mina moaned in frustration. "I'm okay with discussing these memories with you, but . . . I can't handle when it all comes at once and just takes over. It's almost like I black out and I'm not me, but I still remember when I come to."  
  
"Do you think you become Mirena in those moments?"  
  
"Sort of? It's so hard to explain, especially with my head hurting like this." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Yesterday, it seemed to be fine. I woke from being hypnotized and I just . . . knew I had been Mirena. I remember the few days before she died really well. Those memories are crystal clear. But the older ones, those are what are messing me up."  
  
She wasn't sure yet how she felt about knowing that she _was_ Mirena. It was still so new and strange, and the distress from her situation had kept her from really considering things until now.  
  
Vlad kissed the side of her neck. "We'll get through this."  
  
Mina rolled over in his arms, to face him. "How can I be her?" she whispered. "And would you still love me if I weren't?"  
  
"Of course I would, _iubita mea_." He threaded his fingers through her hair. "You have her memories. You know how fiercely we loved each other. I have that same love for you, Mina, and it isn't just because you are Mirena. I hope, in time, you can make peace with what has happened. But never doubt that I love _you_."

 

* * *

 

  
  
After Vlad went back to sleep, Mina made her way down to the kitchen to get something to eat. She was fixing a sandwich when Van Helsing found her again.  
  
"I hear your husband displayed his powers," Van Helsing said. He sounded upset. "I would like to have seen this thing."  
  
Mina set down the knife she was using, before she went after him with it. "I don't give a fuck what you want. You claimed to want to help me, but you had no intention of that, did you? You just wanted to open the flood gates in my head and hurt me to hurt Vlad. Because he embarrassed you. Because he's the ultimate 'score' and you can't touch him."  
  
Van Helsing's brown eyes narrowed. "I did not-"  
  
"You told Vlad as much! You think he and I don't talk to each other, just because he was afraid to tell me he thought I was Mirena? He told me everything you said. That you don't specialise in past lives, that you just study people. Did you want to study me? Is that it?"  
  
She didn't realise she'd been advancing on him until he hit the wall and arrested his backwards motion. Mina stopped, so angry that she shook with it.  
  
"You have no idea what you've done to me. And I think you don't care. Why I've kept Vlad from ripping your head off, I don't know. Heaven knows we don't _need_ you."  
  
"But how will you defeat the vampire without me? I have knowledge, and books-"  
  
"You honestly thought garlic would keep a vampire out of Lucy's room! Yes, you know that taking the head or the heart of a vampire will kill it, but we're all familiar with popular culture. We all know that much. We're not ignorant, easily frightened Victorians or something, Van Helsing. And frankly, I trust a man who has gone to war and _won_ , over a professor in tweed. Unless you can tell us some obscure thing that will help us identify this vampire, what use are you?"  
  
Without a word, Van Helsing turned and hurried out of the room. Mina sighed and went back to making her sandwich. Even though he'd killed her appetite, she still had to eat for the baby.

 

* * *

 

 

Lucy tracked her down in the garden after lunch, where she sat reading a book.  
  
"That awkward little professor just left with all his books," the redhead told her.  
  
"Good riddance," Mina muttered.  
  
"What did he do that you and Vlad are so angry about? What happened to you at breakfast?"  
  
Mina closed the book with a sigh. "Apparently, I'm the reincarnation of Vlad's first wife, Mirena. We met by 'accident' in Bucharest. I'd never seen Vlad before, he had no idea I existed, but I look like her, so he was attracted. Then it turned out that I _am_ her. I've had memories surfacing for weeks. Van Helsing said he'd help me with that, so he hypnotized me, and ever since . . . I've been getting these bursts of Mirena's memories that just . . ."  
  
"Send you into screaming fits?"  
  
"Not usually. That one was because I was remembering childbirth, and it hurt." Mina put her fingertips to her temples. "The memories overwhelm me until I go to Vlad and he helps me put them in order. You remember the movie 'Moulin Rouge'?"  
  
"How could I forget?"  
  
"You know how the editing was all fast and crazy? It's a bit like that, only the scenes are short and out of order, and it's all in my head."  
  
Lucy put her arm around Mina's shoulders. "So you're going nuts, and I've been snacked on by a vampire."  
  
Mina snorted a laugh. "Yes. Looks like."  
  
"Is the vampire going to come back for me?" Lucy's voice shook, her forced light tone faltering.  
  
"We're afraid it might, but we don't know. _I_ hope that with all of us surrounding you, it'll move on."  
  
Lucy rested her head on Mina's shoulder. "Is Vlad really this former prince guy like Mum and Arthur say?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"I know."  
  
They sat in silence for a while. Then Lucy said, "I still need a wedding dress. Want to go shopping tomorrow?"  
  
"Sure, why not? But if I start gibbering, just . . . find me somewhere to sit and tell people I saw a spider."


	18. Chapter 18

**\--Chapter Eighteen--**  
  
Mina's room had a private bath, with a big, old-fashioned clawfoot tub. Returning to their room to find Vlad still asleep--and resisting the urge to wake him to have her way with him--she drew up a bath.  
  
As she lowered herself into the tub, she heard Vlad stirring in the bedroom.  
  
"Mina?" he called.  
  
"In the bath," she said.  
  
A few moments later, he joined her, kneeling by the side of the tub.  
  
"You're up early," she commented.  
  
"I'm having difficulty sleeping. Today hasn't been very restful, and I'm worried about you." Vlad rested his chin on the side of the tub and offered her his hand, which she took to thread her fingers through his.  
  
"I haven't had any attacks since this morning," she told him. "I keep getting distracted by things, but they aren't new, so to speak."  
  
"Hmm." Vlad gave her hand a squeeze. "I wish I'd told you my concerns sooner, so that you'd have talked to me instead of going to Van Helsing. I feel this is my fault."  
  
Mina shifted in the tub to rest her forehead against his. "Don't. I should have talked to you instead of letting him manipulate me. What's done is done. We just need to figure out how to go forward."  
  
He lifted his head to press a kiss to her forehead. "You have the most understanding and forgiving nature. In this life or the past."  
  
She looked at their joined hands, his ringless, hers bearing her wedding ring. "She was scared when you told her what you were," she said slowly, "but she was never angry at you. Angry at the Turks, angry at the thing that made you, yes. But not you. I can't hold anything against you, either."  
  
Then she grinned. "For one thing, you're too damned attractive."  
  
Vlad laughed softly. "And to think my brother Radu was called the handsome one."  
  
"But he was a horrible person, so looks don't matter."  
  
"Do you know how odd it is to be able to talk to you about my brother?" he asked her in a whisper. "Or about anyone from that time?"  
  
"Not as odd as suddenly knowing about the time Radu stole our best wine and tried to seduce Ingeras's governess," she replied dryly.  
  
Vlad smiled faintly. "I had forgotten about that. Mina . . . are you alright with this? With having Mirena's memories?"  
  
Mina sat in silence for a while, contemplating the question. Ultimately, whether she was alright with it or not didn't matter. It was what it was, and there was no getting around it.  
  
When she said as much, he ran a hand down her cheek. "I don't deserve you," he whispered.  
  
"Really don't," she responded in kind, with a wan smile. "I'm supposed to go dress shopping with Lucy tomorrow. Again. I hope she's up for it. I hope _I'm_ up for it."  
  
"Do you regret the way we wed?"  
  
Mina shook her head. "It was about you and me. Besides, I've no family but you, and you've no family but me, so other than Lucy, who would we have invited? Coworkers?"  
  
"True."  
  
"I was never keen on the big wedding, anyway. When I was engaged to Jonathan, his family insisted on the big wedding. Then he died, and . . . they stopped speaking to me entirely. Cut me off as if I'd never existed."  
  
Vlad growled under his breath.  
  
"Hush," she breathed. "I'm over it. Very, very over it. Especially with Mirena in my head. So much of our relationship makes more sense now, knowing we were married before. Picking up where we left off, in a way."  
  
He stood and began undressing. Mina arched a brow. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Joining you."  
  
Mina scooted to the front of the tub so Vlad could climb in. There was barely room for the two of them, but she didn't mind in the slightest, especially when he pulled her close. The tub was nice and deep, the water reaching Mina's neck.  
  
"Forgive me, love, for worrying so much. I hate to see you hurting."  
  
She rested her head back against his shoulder. "I'm actually glad the memories started coming to me after I met you. If they'd come before, and I hadn't met you . . ."  
  
He wrapped his arms around her, sloshing water over the side of the tub. "The very idea horrifies me."  
  
"But then, being with you might have been the trigger. Who knows?" She turned her head and kissed his neck. "Though, I have to admit . . ."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"How silly is it to be jealous of yourself?"  
  
"Jealous of yourself?" he repeated.  
  
Mina sat up, the water coming close to spilling over the edge of the tub. She pulled the plug to drain some of the water out. "Mm-hmm.  I've got a few very, very clear memories of us that are _not_ me."  
  
She turned blue eyes to him and said, pointedly, "I know where every one of your scars used to be."  
  
"Oh," he said stupidly. "That kind of memory. Ah . . ."  
  
She knelt between his legs and braced her hands on the edge of the tub to either side of his head. "I almost feel like . . . like I had an identical twin and she was with you first."  
  
Vlad ran his fingers through her damp hair. "That . . . must be awkward."  
  
"Mm." She ran a finger down his chest, trailing water beads. "I do have to say, I like the one after you defeated all those Turks, and Mirena dragged you to a dark corner . . ."  
  
He swallowed hard, remembering clearly taking his wife against the wall, her skirts hiked up and her legs around his waist.  
  
"I remember exactly what it was like, but I'm jealous, because it wasn't _me_." She shook her head. "And yet, it was. God, this is strange."  
  
Vlad wrapped his arms around her and stood, water spilling everywhere. Mina squealed as he swept her up.  
  
"Vlad! What are you doing?!"  
  
"I'm taking you to bed."  
  
"It's the middle of the afternoon!"  
  
"And your point is?"  
  
". . . Alright, carry on."  
  


* * *

 

  
Vlad tossed Mina on the bed, both still dripping bath water, and crawled up after her. She laughed as he stalked her across the bed on all fours, already reaching for him as he got to her, pulling him down with her on the sheets.  
  
"Mmm. I love you," she told him.  
  
He kissed her deeply, pressing her full-length into the bedding. Mina responded eagerly, twining herself around him.  
  
As he sucked at her neck, Mina gasped out, "I remember!"  
  
He lifted his head. "Remember what?"  
  
"Why I said our first time was 'better than last time'."  
  
One dark brow rose. "Oh?"  
  
"Because you ran out in the middle of things in the tent. I realise now you were probably trying not to bite me- her- whoever- but still. Getting a girl riled like that and then running away? Not nice."  
  
Vlad snorted a laugh. "I was very much trying not to bite . . . Mirena. You have no idea how difficult it was to walk away. Or run, really. I ran myself ragged that night."  
  
"I trust you're not tempted to bite me now?"  
  
"Mina, I'm a vampire. I'm tempted to bite nearly everyone. The difference is, I have control now and it's never more than a passing thought."  
  
She pushed him on his back and straddled him. "I like when you bite me. Not _bite_ me, but . . ."  
  
His hands settled on her hips. "I know what you mean. That was never a response I got out of Mirena."  
  
"Mm." Mina bent her head and nipped at his shoulder. "She was missing out. Way too vanilla."  
  
He chuckled but didn't retort.  
  
She licked a line down his chest, peppered his abdomen with kisses, and wiggled until she could kiss the inguinal curve at his hip. "I know something else she didn't do enough of."  
  
"And what is that?"  
  
Mina took his soft penis in her hand and stroked him. He hardened in her grasp until he stood rigid and erect, twitching with every beat of his heart. She wrapped her fingers around the base and licked the head.  
  
Vlad's breath left him in a rush. "Mina," he gasped.  
  
"How long has it been," she whispered, "since someone did this for you?"  
  
He shook his head, unable to respond.  
  
"I'm going to guess about five hundred years," she decided, and took him in her mouth.  
  
His hands fisted in the sheets and Vlad fought to remain still as Mina bobbed her head, sliding her tongue the length of his cock. She hummed a little as she closed her lips around him. Vlad swore, making Mina laugh. She nearly choked and had to back off for a moment.  
  
Mina concentrated on jerking him, loving the power it gave her over him. Watching his face as she stroked from root to tip and back was heady. "I should have tied you up first," she murmured.  
  
He laughed breathlessly.  
  
"Hmm. Should I make you come, or . . .?" Mina licked him again. "Choices, choices."  
  
"Mina," he growled.  
  
"Oh, alright." She closed her mouth around him, taking him as deep as she could. She sucked him hard, making him groan.  
  
Watching her go down on him, Vlad had to admit that this was something Mirena hadn't done nearly enough to his liking. He hadn't pushed her, wanting his bride to be comfortable with him. That Mina was not only willing, but _enjoying_ it, thrilled him.  
  
He felt himself tightening, nearly there, and he said, "Mina."  
  
Her fingers slid faster over his length and she came up for air, flushed and lips swollen. "Almost there?" she asked. "Come for me."  
  
Her words were his undoing, and he came with a groan, spilling himself over the muscled plane of his belly. Mina watched with a satisfied grin and rested her cheek on his thigh.  
  
She rose after a moment and fetched a washcloth to clean him up with. When she returned, she found him just as erect as before.  
  
"Is this some secret vampire power?"  
  
"No, just want of you." He dragged her over and rolled her beneath him.  
  
He drove into her and Mina cried out, wrapping her legs tight around him. He took her hard and fast, the brass bed creaking with every thrust.  
  
"The whole house is going to know," she gasped.  
  
"We're newlyweds," he reminded her. "We're allowed."  
  
"Unh. Oh. Vlad, don't stop. Please, don't-" Her fingernails clawed his back as she abruptly orgasmed, breath stolen by the force of it. The cuts healed before they could bleed, before she even realised she'd done it.  
  
He brought her once more before letting himself go, and they cuddled together in the tangle of sheets.  
  
"We have to make the bed," she mumbled, with her face pressed to his chest.  
  
"Later. Sleep, _iubita mea_. You've earned it."

 

* * *

 

  
  
Mina catnapped for a while, before emerging for dinner. Lucy gave her a knowing look when she came down the stairs, to which Mina replied, "Oh, shut it!" and blushed furiously.  
  
"You're looking better," she told Lucy over dinner.  
  
"I'm feeling much better. I'm a little tired still, but the doctors say that's to be expected." Lucy's brown eyes twinkled as she said, "I'll bet I'm not as tired as _you_ though."  
  
"Why would she be tired?" Arthur inquired.  
  
Before Lucy could allude to anything naughty, Mina quickly said, "I'm pregnant. Eight weeks now."  
  
"Oh, congratulations! I suppose this means you'll be close to having your baby when Lucy and I marry," he said.  
  
Lucy pursed her lips. "We could always move it up. Say we want your dad there."  
  
"We _don't_ want my dad there," Arthur said.  
  
"But he could linger for months or even years. We say that we're marrying sooner so that he can attend, and he's sure to croak."  
  
Mina nearly inhaled her water. "You two are terrible!"  
  
"I'm serious, though," Lucy continued. "All jokes aside, if this last week has taught me anything, it's that life is really bloody short and we should enjoy what we have while we can. Besides, no offense, Mina, but if we keep the current wedding date, you'll barely be able to stand, let alone party all night at the reception."  
  
Laughing, Mina said, "None taken!"  
  
Arthur considered his fiancee's words. "Do you really want to move it up?"  
  
Lucy nodded. "It's almost July now, so why not go for September? Mina, how far along will you be in September?"  
  
Mina mentally counted. "About five months?"  
  
"Perfect!"  
  
Arthur shrugged. "If that's what you want, darling, that's what we'll do. I'll let Mum know. She _will_ ask if it's because you're pregnant, I need to warn you."  
  
Lucy rolled her eyes. "She's just hungry for grandchildren. Heirs and all that."  
  
Her fiance smirked and shook his head.  
  
Mina, once again glad that she'd eloped with Vlad, tucked into her soup.

 

* * *

 

  
  
The Westenra property was quiet that night, as Vlad made his patrol. His thoughts were consumed by his ever-present concern for Mina. But he was aware, still, of the night creatures that lurked in the dark.  
  
A bat flew by overhead and he called it to him. It landed on Vlad's shoulder for a moment, then took off into the darkness, calling to others of its kind. He flashed back to the one time he had truly let himself control them, had gathered hundred of thousands of bats to attack his enemies.  
  
If he'd never left the tower, perhaps Mirena would not have fallen to her death. But he had, and, as Mina was fond of saying, what was done was done.  
  
He had sworn that day that he would find her again, that death would not separate them. And he _had_ found her, after five hundred years. But she wasn't just his Mirena come back. She was Mina, and Mina was suffering for what Van Helsing had done.  
  
If he ever saw that horrible German again, he would kill him. That was all there was to it.  
  
Something moved in the dark. He turned his senses to it, but it was gone before he could focus on it. Still, he felt a chill up his spine, and knew.  
  
"I know you're out there," he said aloud. "Leave this place and its inhabitants alone, or face my wrath."  
  
Nothing answered him. But he hadn't expected the enemy to address him.  
  
Not yet.


	19. Chapter 19

**\--Chapter Nineteen--**  
  
When they went dress shopping the next day, Mina brought her never-worn dress along, to see if they could list it at a consignment shop. The first two shops didn't want it. The third bought it outright and gave Mina three hundred pounds for it. It was less than she'd bought the thing for, but anything was better than it mouldering away in the Westenra attic.  
  
"Why didn't you wear white when you got married?" Lucy asked, as they browsed through dresses at the fifth bridal salon--counting the first several they'd been to before Lucy's attack.  
  
 _"Vlad!"_  
  
 _"NO! MIRENA!"_  
  
Mina shrugged off the sensation of falling and said, "It seemed silly to go for white. Being pregnant and all. And Vlad doesn't like white."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I died in this really gorgeous white gown the first time around?"  
  
". . . Oh. You know, I still don't know what to say to that."  
  
Mina sighed. "Neither do I."  
  
While Lucy was in trying on gowns, Mina browsed the bridesmaids dresses. Lucy's colours were dark blue and green, both of which went well with the bride's red hair. Mina wasn't really inclined towards the green, so she gravitated towards the blue dresses.  
  
"Can I help you find something?"  
  
Mina looked over at the sale clerk that had approached. "Maybe. My friend is getting married, and I need a dress. Problem is, I'm going to be about five months pregnant."  
  
"I definitely would recommend an empire waist, then."  
  
"Should I get a dress now, or wait 'til closer to the wedding?"  
  
The clerk eyed her critically. "I'd wait. Or you could go a few sizes larger and get it altered."  
  
Mina made a face. "I think I'd rather wait."  
  
"Mina?"  
  
She turned, and saw that Lucy had come out in a gorgeous, delicate gown of hand-beaded lace over silk. "Oh! Lucy, that's so perfect!"  
  
Her friend had tears in her eyes. "I know! I put it on, and . . ."  
  
Lucy started crying. Mina hugged her tightly, and they both laughed.  
  
"I'm getting married," Lucy sniffled, then repeated, louder, "I'm getting married!"  
  
"Yes, you are!" Especially if she and Vlad had anything to say about it.  
  
Mina would do just about anything to help keep her friend safe. Please, she thought, let him leave her alone now!  
  


* * *

 

  
After Lucy ordered her dress, with a penalty fee for rushed production, they went out for lunch. Mina was ravenous again, her appetite having being gone most of the morning.  
  
"It's so strange to think that a vampire nearly killed me. A _vampire_. Can you believe that?"  
  
Mina gave Lucy a look. "Lu, I'm married to Vlad the Impaler. I think I can believe it."  
  
Lucy pointed her fork at Mina. "Why's he called that, anyway?"  
  
Mina took a sip of her water. "Are you sure you want to discuss this over lunch?"  
  
"If I can handle Mum's medical issues over dinner, I can handle this, I think. It can't be _that_ bad, if you're married to him."  
  
"Well . . . Before he was a vampire, he was ruler of Wallachia, though he's from Transylvania and a lot of his people came from Transylvania to live with him because he was a fair rule. He was also harsh, though. He, um . . . had a reputation for putting criminals and enemies to the stake. Impaling them."  
  
Lucy set down her fork. "Ew."  
  
"I know. But it was a long time ago."  
  
"Wait, wait! I think I learned about this bloke in school! Didn't he come back from being a prisoner somewhere and find that his cousin or someone had buried his dad and brother alive, face down, or something, so he tricked them all into coming to dinner, then locked them in and set the place on fire?"  
  
Mina wrinkled her nose. If that had happened, it had been before he'd married Mirena. She had no memory of it either way. "I . . . am not sure if that's one of the made-up stories or if that actually happened. I'd have to ask Vlad. But yes, that's the same fellow."  
  
"And didn't he nail some messenger's hat to his head?"  
  
"No, Hamza Bey made it out with his hat _not_ nailed to his head." She smirked a little. "Vlad later cut his arms off, but no. No emissaries or scouts had their hats nailed on. A good lot of those stories were written over a century after he, ah, 'died'."  
  
"But he killed thousands of people. How can you stand being married to him?"  
  
Mina pushed her plate away. "Because he's a good man who had to do terrible things to protect his people. He loves me, and he loved- He loved Mirena and their son and would have done anything for them. He _did_ do everything for them. He turned into what he is now for them."  
  
For me, she thought to herself. Because I'm Mirena. And then he spent five hundred years alone, hoping I'd come back to him.  
  
"You keep referring to his first wife as 'her' but if you _are_ her . . ."  
  
"It's easier for me," Mina murmured. "Imagine if you suddenly found out you were Queen Bess reincarnated and had all of her memories crammed into your head all at once, how would you feel?"  
  
"I've no idea, because I'm not bloody Queen Bess, am I? But you're . . . Lord, what's that _like_?"  
  
Mina hesitated, took a drink of her water before answering. "It's damned confusing and it makes me angry sometimes, and . . . I'm even jealous of myself. There's so much that they had that he and I haven't had. She got the big wedding to a prince. I got a courthouse and a paper."  
  
"He would have married you in a big thing if you'd wanted, I'm sure," Lucy said softly.  
  
Sighing, Mina shook her head. "He would have, aside from the whole thing where he can't be touched by holy water and that church weddings happen during the day. It was difficult enough marrying like we did. He had to use his powers to make it all dark and overcast, so our wedding picture is indoors, taken by the court clerk on my bloody mobile."  
  
She wasn't really angry over it, Mina acknowledged, but she was feeling bloated and irritable, and Lucy had looked so pretty in her dress . . .  
  
"I have an idea!" Lucy said excitedly. "Have a vow renewal party! You can pick a pretty dress, doesn't have to be white, and we'll have a grand time. I'll hostess so you don't need to worry about that."  
  
Mina laughed. "I'd actually mentioned to Vlad when we got engaged that you'd probably throw us a party. Okay, why not?"  
  
Gleefully, Lucy pulled out her mobile and began plotting.  
  


* * *

 

  
"What are you thinking about so intently?" Vlad asked Mina that night.  
  
Mina lay on her side, one hand resting low on her belly, as if protecting their child. "Why Mirena kept miscarrying after Ingeras."  
  
Vlad twisted to mirror her, only with his hand on her waist. "What are your thoughts?"  
  
"Mm. I'm willing to be that she was Rh-negative and you're Rh-positive. That means there's something in your blood that her body would produce antibodies for, and those antibodies would, um, have gotten rid of any pregnancy she had after the first one."  
  
He thought long and hard about that. He'd always wondered why Ingeras had been born healthy and without problem, but no matter how hard they tried after, Mirena had never been able to carry past a few weeks. It had broken their hearts every time.  
  
"Are you Rh-negative?" he asked Mina.  
  
"Nope. I'm Rh-positive, so it doesn't matter what you are."  
  
Vlad rolled to his back and folded his hands behind his head. "So it's possible we could have more than one child."  
  
"Depending on when or if I turned," she said softly. "Because that's a factor, too."  
  
"Would you?"  
  
She shrugged. "I know I don't want to die and have you wait for me for hundreds of years, trying to find me again. If I turned, if I managed to hold on to myself, we could always be together. But I don't know if female vampires can get pregnant."  
  
"Do you want more children? We haven't even had the first."  
  
"Second," she told him. "Ingeras was first."  
  
Mina rested her head on his chest. "It's strange to have memories of and love for a child I never knew."  
  
"He was a good boy," Vlad murmured.  
  
"And so brave. So like you."  
  
"I don't feel particularly brave."  
  
"That you do the things that terrify you because others need you, Vlad, that's bravery. You risked everything when you went to Broken Tooth Mountain. You did that for . . . for us."  
  
"And I would do it again."  
  
Mina drew a heart on his chest with her finger. "I know."  
  
He caught her hand and raised it to his mouth, kissing her palm. "What were you and Lucy discussing earlier?"  
  
"She wants to throw us a party. Kind of a wedding reception. I think it'll help get her mind off what's happening."  
  
"I haven't been to a proper party since . . ."  
  
"Easter," Mina whispered.  
  
Vlad sighed. "Is it sinful of me to have enjoyed killing that man?"  
  
"He wanted to take Ingeras away," she pointed out. "So I don't think so."  
  
Mina sat up. "Lucy wants us to dress up. Which means I need to get something."  
  
Her husband made a sound she took for acknowledgement. "I suppose I need a tuxedo."  
  
"That would probably be good."  
  
He pulled her close, tucking her in against his body, and rested his hand over her belly. "I cannot wait to see you heavy with child."  
  
"I'm going to be a whale."  
  
Vlad shook his head and kissed her shoulder. "No. You're beautiful always."  
  
"You and flattery," she giggled.  
  
He smiled against her hair. "Mina, I mean it. You are the most beautiful creature in this universe to me. I adore you beyond all reason and description."  
  
She sighed, closing her eyes. "I love you."  
  
"Always," he whispered. "I will love you always."  
  


* * *

 

  
Outside, it lurked, watching as Vlad did his nightly patrol. Watching as he looked in on his precious wife.  
  
It looked to the blocked balcony door, where it had previously fed on the red haired one. It was so much fun to play with these humans, to perplex and frighten them.  
  
But drinking from Lucy Westenra was only a small part of the plan. Soon, the rest would be put into motion.  
  
Soon.


	20. Chapter 20

**\--Chapter Twenty--**  
  
Mina enjoyed shopping for a dress for her reception, much more than she'd ever enjoyed the stress of wedding dress shopping. For one, she didn't need to get measured and laced into corsets and all of that for a party gown.  
  
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.  
  
"For the third time, Lu, I do _not_ want a corset. I had enough of that with my first wedding." Mina shook her head. "Besides, I don't want to do anything that might hurt the baby."  
  
"I don't think a corset will hurt you if you're only, what, eight weeks?"  
  
"Almost nine now," Mina said. "I'm going to start showing in a few weeks."  
  
Lucy stuck her tongue out. "I can just see you all fat and glowing and happy. You and Vlad are sickening, you're so sappy together."  
  
"Aren't you happy to be marrying Arthur?"  
  
"Yes, I am, but I'm so not doing the babies thing for at _least_ two years."  
  
Knowing it would irritate her best friend, Mina said, "Vlad and I are already plotting the next one."  
  
Lucy made an indignant noise and went to search through another rack. Mina laughed to herself.  
  
She was really tempted to get a white or ivory dress, but knowing just how traumatized Vlad was over it, she was still willing to forgo that, even if it was her wedding reception. Mina sighed as she longingly looked at an ivory and champagne dress.  
  
"Mina!" Lucy squealed from across the shop. "Mina, Mina, Mina! Come here!"  
  
Drawn by curiosity and the need to quiet her friend, Mina went. She found Lucy holding up a blush-pink dress. It was one-shouldered, with a ruffled drape that went from the waist on the left side, up and over the right shoulder, and down the back to merge with the sweep train. There were little clusters of flowers at waist and shoulder.  
  
"That's . . . very pink," Mina commented.  
  
"You have to try it on!" Lucy insisted. "I know it isn't what you're looking for, but indulge me, please?"  
  
"Oh, alright."  
  
Mina took the dress into the dressing room. Stripping out of her tee and jeans, she put the dress on. "I can't zip it up the back, Lu," she said.  
  
"Open up, I'll help."  
  
She unlatched the door and Lucy stepped in and quickly zipped up the dress. "C'mon out so we can have a proper look."  
  
Mina stepped out, the dress trailing behind her. She'd eyed it skeptically in the small dressing room, but when she stepped out and had a good look at it in the surrounding mirrors, she knew Lucy was right.  
  
"Oh my god," Lucy squeaked. "It's so perfect! Mina, you have to get this dress. Vlad is going to love it!"  
  
Turning in a small circle on the pedestal, Mina sighed. Like her wedding ring, it wasn't anything she would have sought out by herself. But it was perfect.  
  
"Are you sure?" she asked Lucy. "That he'll like it?"  
  
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Mina, that man would love you in a potato sack. But yes. He will definitely love it."  
  
"I need shoes," Mina said, and knew she was sold.

 

* * *

 

  
  
The party was two weeks later. Nothing had attempted to attack Lucy in the intervening time. Vlad wasn't convinced the danger was over, but evidence leaned that way.  
  
"Are you really not going to let me see you in the dress first?" he asked Mina through the bathroom door. "We're already married."  
  
"No! You have to wait. Go downstairs. I don't want to see your tux, either."  
  
Amused, he said, "Okay. I'll be downstairs. Call if you need anything, I'll hear you."  
  
"Just send Lucy up. I'm having trouble with my hair."  
  
Laughing softly to himself, Vlad agreed and left the bedroom. He was itching to return to Romania, but knew they couldn't until Lucy was safe. That this vampire had eluded him for so long told him that it was one that had retained itself after the change, and wasn't a mindless beast like the other.  
  
He had no idea how old or how smart this one was, or where it had come from. He'd had no luck tracking it, because it hadn't killed anyone like the other had. London was a big city and had multiple murders, deaths, and disappearances a day, but none spoke to him of vampire.  
  
Vlad made his way down the stairs and to the Westenras' smallish ballroom, where Lucy was greeting the guests she'd invited. He knew a few by reputation, but had never met any of them.  
  
"Is Mina ready yet?" Lucy asked him when he came in.  
  
"No. She's asked for you to help her with her hair."  
  
"Oh! I'll do that right now. You should mingle."  
  
Mingling was the last thing Vlad wanted to do, but he recognised both a directive and a business opportunity when he saw one.  
  
When Lucy came back in five minutes later, he was talking to an actor that Arthur knew. He excused himself and went to their hostess.  
  
"Who were you talking to?" she asked.  
  
"Some actor. Benjamin? Benedict? Benedict, yes. Like the pope."  
  
Lucy got a dreamy look in her eyes and said, "I can't believe he came to the party!"  
  
Vlad didn't care. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Is Mina coming down?"  
  
"Yes, yes, she should be here any minute."  
  
He heard her familiar footsteps before he saw her at the door, and turned as she appeared. Dressed in a fluttery pink gown, her chin-length hair styled and a pink fascinator in place, she quite took his breath away.  
  
Vlad went to her, taking her hands in his as he drew her into the room. Lucy excitedly announced them.  
  
They spent the evening dancing and mingling, and for Mina, sampling the hors d'ouevre. The waitstaff had all been informed of the bride's condition, and none offered her any wine or champagne, all of which had been imported from Vlad's vineyard in Romania.  
  
"Make any business connections?" Mina asked Vlad as she picked at a canapé.  
  
"A few," he said, and produced no less than ten business cards.  
  
She laughed. "Your wines are excellent, of course people are going to want more."  
  
They cut the cake, a five-tiered confection of chocolate and strawberries that Lucy had ordered. By tradition, she and Vlad fed each other small pieces, and neither did any cake smashing.  
  
"I could live off of this," Mina said, as she cut off a bite with her fork. "This is excellent."  
  
Lucy came over, wanting to introduce Mina to someone. Vlad sighed and let his bride be dragged off, even though he'd wanted to dance with her as soon as she'd finished with the cake.  
  
Arthur came over, full of pride for his fiancee and her party-planning skills. "Wonderful to-do, innit?"  
  
"Yes, Lucy is very creative."  
  
"Look, I'm . . . sorry I've been such a prat these past weeks. I've just been so damned worried about Lucy. I want to thank you for the help you've been."  
  
"You are welcome," Vlad said, "and I accept your apology. I think I'd have acted the same in your position."  
  
Arthur smiled awkwardly, then changed the subject. "I've been admiring that BMW 6 Coupé you drive. Is that a 640i or a 650i?"  
  
"650."  
  
"How difficult was it to get that tinting allowed by the authorities?"  
  
Vlad shrugged. "Money and an 'allergy' to the sun go a long way."  
  
"Do you burst into flames when exposed to the sun?"  
  
"No. I blister, my skin falls off, and I turn to ash."  
  
Arthur went pale. "Ah. Forgive me for asking."  
  
Lucy came up then, latching onto Arthur. She said something about the person she'd just been talking to, oblivious to her fiance's tension.  
  
"Where is Mina?" Vlad asked her.  
  
"Oh, she said she was popping out to the loo." Lucy waved her hand. "She looked a little green, if you know what I mean."  
  
Fifteen minutes passed, and Mina still hadn't returned.  
  
"Lucy, would you go check on Mina?" Vlad asked quietly.  
  
Lucy nodded. She hurried out to the nearest restroom. She was back in less than a minute. "She's not there."  
  
"Perhaps she went to lie down?" Arthur suggested.  
  
Vlad shook his head. "She wouldn't leave without telling me. Excuse me."  
  
He stepped out into the foyer. Seeing no one there to see _him_ , he flew up the stairs and down the corridor to their room. The door was unlocked, the room--and bathroom--empty.  
  
Where was Mina?  
  
He hurried back to the party and in hushed tones, told Lucy and Arthur that she wasn't upstairs.  
  
"Maybe she's mingling?" Lucy asked.  
  
Vlad shook his head. "I don't hear her."  
  
He looked around the ballroom, scanning the guests. There was no flash of pink in the crowd, no familiar heartbeat that he knew better than his own.  
  
The French doors, he realised, were open.  
  
"Who opened the doors?" he asked, voice rasping.  
  
"One of the staff, I'd imagine." This from Lucy. "You think she went outside?"  
  
"Not by herself. Not with a vampire out there somewhere."  
  
In a few swift strides, Vlad was across the room and out the doors, Lucy and Arthur hot on his heels. There were lights shining on the house, but the lawns and garden were dark.  
  
"Mina!" Vlad called. "Are you out here?"  
  
Off in the dark, there was a faint groan. Vlad took off running in that direction, which he dimly recalled was the rose garden.  
  
He found Mina on the stone bench, unconscious, arm draped over the side. There was a pink rose fallen to the ground, and blood at her throat.  
  
For an eternal moment, he had a flashback to Mirena, motionless at his knees, throat covered in blood, blue eyes sightless and staring. His fault. All his fault.  
  
"Mina!" he cried.  
  
Dropping to his knees, he checked her pulse. It was there, a little faint but there. Vlad scooped her up in his arms, holding her close.  
  
Alerted by his cry, Lucy and Arthur found him as he strode out of the garden.  
  
"Mina!" Lucy gasped. "Is she alright?"  
  
"I don't know yet. Are any of your guests doctors?"  
  
Mutely, she shook her head.  
  
Gritting his teeth, Vlad gave his own a shake. "I'm going to take her upstairs. If she doesn't wake, I'm going to take her to the hospital."  
  
"Was it the vampire?" Arthur asked quietly.  
  
Grimly, Vlad nodded. With Mina's train trailing over his arm and nearly to the ground, he hurried her inside.  
  
"Well," Lucy sighed. "I guess the party's over."  
  



	21. Chapter 21

**\--Chapter Twenty-One--**  
  
Mina was stirring by the time Vlad got her upstairs. She was cold, despite the warm, early July night, so he carefully removed her dress and wrapped her in a fuzzy robe he found hanging in the closet.  
  
"Vlad?" she asked, in a weak voice.  
  
He paused in putting warm socks on her feet. "I'm here. It's alright."  
  
"What . . ." She tried to sit up, and fell back on the pillows. "Why . . .?"  
  
Vlad took her icy hand in his. "I found you in the garden. You were attacked. I was just trying to decide if I should take you to see a doctor or not. How do you feel?"  
  
"Attacked?" she repeated muzzily. "By . . . vampire?"  
  
"Yes, _iubita mea_. By the vampire. Did you go outside for any reason?"  
  
"No . . ." She frowned. "I feel so dizzy."  
  
"I know." Vlad finished putting the second sock on. "I wanted you out of the dress and warm before I take you to the hospital. I don't know how much blood you've lost."  
  
Mina just stared at him.  
  
The door opened slowly and Lucy stuck her head in. "I've explained Mina's fallen ill, and the guests are leaving."  
  
"Time to go," Vlad said. He helped Mina up. She wobbled, and he decided walking wasn't an option.  
  
Arthur lurked in the hallway, face full of concern. "Is she alright?"  
  
"Not really." Vlad nodded his head towards the front door. "You were admiring the BMW. Fancy a ride in it?"

 

* * *

  
  
  
Mina had a few scrapes, probably from being placed on the stone bench, but the bite on her neck had healed by the time they reached the hospital. Vlad wasn't sure what did it, probably something in the saliva.  
  
The accident and emergency room was busy, it being a Friday night, but Mina's pregnancy and Vlad's story of her falling in the garden got her bumped pretty high up the list. It was still a good hour before they got her in to be seen, which had Vlad livid. He somehow managed to keep a rein on his anger, Mina being his main priority.  
  
The doctor assigned to her came in and began poking and prodding. "Tell me what happened."  
  
"We were having our wedding reception," Vlad began. "We were married a few weeks ago, but our friends threw us a party tonight. Mina and I were in the garden for some air when she suddenly collapsed. She was conscious, so I took her upstairs, thinking she needed to lie down. But she turned cold and dizzy, so we brought her in."  
  
"And she's pregnant?"  
  
"About eleven weeks, yes."  
  
"Hmm."  
  
In the end, the doctors had no better answers for Mina than they had for Lucy. Her blood count levels were higher than Lucy's, so they decided she didn't need a transfusion or anything of the sort. Her mysterious collapse was put down to pregnancy anemia, an uncommon but not unheard-of illness.  
  
They sent her home with instructions to eat more red meat and other things rich in iron.  
  
Vlad went through a drive-through at a twenty-four hour McDonald's and bought Mina several cheeseburgers. As he paid for them, with Lucy and Arthur in the back seat of the car, he wondered how he'd gone from being the terror of the Turkish Janissary Corps to buying McDonald's in the middle of the night for his pregnant wife that had just been attacked by a vampire.  
  
"You have the most peculiar look on your face right now," Mina said.  
  
"Just thinking."  
  
"It must be some thought to make that expression."  
  
He laughed a little. "Vlad the Impaler buying McDonald's for his wife."  
  
Mina snorted a laugh. In the back, Arthur said, "I don't understand why that's funny."  
  
"I ruled a principality. My reputation terrified my enemies. And here I am, at two in the morning, getting my pregnant wife a hamburger at a drive-thru in Westminster."  
  
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Lucy said.  
  
Mina reached over and patted his arm. "Just wait 'til Vlad the Impaler has to change diapers."  
  
His green eyes slid over to give her a look. She grinned.  
  
"I'm glad you're feeling better," he remarked.  
  
"I'm still very cold, but I don't feel as dizzy as I did."  
  
"Good." Lucy leaned forward and rested her chin on the shoulder of Mina's seat. "You gave us a good scare, disappearing like that."  
  
Mina pulled a burger out of the bag and bit into it. She chewed and swallowed before speaking. "I don't know what happened. I was in the ballroom, headed for the loo, and suddenly I was in our bedroom. I've no memory of anything in between. And my head hurts, so I think I was hit in the head?"  
  
"You should have mentioned that to the doctor," Vlad said. "Why didn't you?"  
  
"Because I have been out of it for the last several hours," she pointed out. "It's not a bad headache, just sort of . . . there. Besides, they checked me for concussion and didn't find anything."  
  
They got back to the house and Vlad carried Mina and her cheeseburgers up the stairs. He made her finish off the remaining two before letting her go to bed.  
  
"I feel too full," she groaned as he tucked her in.  
  
"Be glad it wasn't liver. Besides, all you had all evening were some canapes and a piece of cake."  
  
"You're bossy," Mina sighed as she snuggled down into the comforter.  
  
"Yes, I am," he agreed. "Now go to sleep. I'll be here all night."  
  
"Better be," she said with a yawn. "I'm so tired."  
  
For obvious reasons that Vlad refrained from pointing out. He kicked off his shoes and joined her on the bed. Vlad wasn't surprised when she feel asleep quickly.  
  
For him, sleep didn't come until long past dawn.

 

* * *

  
  
  
"I want to take you back to Romania."  
  
Mina looked up from her bridal magazine. She was helping Lucy pick flowers, and was at present reading an article on floral choices and flower meanings. "What about Lucy?"  
  
Vlad ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. I wish I knew why it switched from Lucy to you, why it even followed Lucy here. I wish I could find it and kill it, but it's intelligent."  
  
She reached up and rubbed her hand over her neck, where the bite had been. "I'm fine with going back to Romania, _except_ I don't want to leave Lucy unprotected. I don't know how to solve both problems, aside from killing the vampire that's attacked us."  
  
"Which I am failing miserably at doing." Vlad sighed and went to the window. The Westenras had added extra security lights around the house after Mina's attack, and the lawn was bathed in a subtle glow.  
  
Putting the magazine aside, Mina rose and went to join him at the window. Vlad hugged her close, kissing the top of her head.  
  
"I feel like it's playing a game with us," he murmured. "The way it left you in the garden last night, with the rose. That was a deliberate taunt."  
  
"Why would it do that?"  
  
"I don't know," he admitted. "I hate not knowing. I hate not having a clear enemy to fight."  
  
"It scares me that I don't remember being attacked." She rested her head against his shoulder, her hand over his heart. "The vampire could have done anything to me."  
  
Vlad nuzzled her hair, breathing in the scent of her. It calmed his frazzled nerves, always had, even when she'd been Mirena. Funny how her scent was the same, her voice, her beautiful face.  
  
"If we go to Romania," Mina said after a while, "we run the risk of it staying here and doing something to Lucy. Or it might follow us back to Bucharest."  
  
"My instinct is to flee home and put you somewhere I can protect you. But I can't do that, can I? My last attempt was . . . less than successful."  
  
"Please stop blaming yourself," she whispered, looking up at him. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't be in two places at once, and your priority was the army attacking."  
  
"My priority will always be my family," he told her. "From now own. You and our child."  
  
"You saved Ingeras, even if you couldn't save Mirena. That was what was most important to her, that you save Ingeras."  
  
Vlad heaved a sigh. "I know. She told me that as she was dying."  
  
"You drank her blood. I have a vague recollection of telling you to do that, but I don't have the moment she actually died. It gets really fuzzy then."  
  
"Which I'm grateful for." He turned his attention to the outdoors, scanning the darkness with his senses. The only thing he detected was a bat--always present, bats--and a stray cat hunting for food. "I still feel like we're being watched."  
  
Mina shivered. "Ugh."  
  
She pulled out of his arms and went to the bed, where she picked up one of the magazines. "Planning Lucy's wedding seems so . . . trivial when I know there's a monster stalking us."  
  
He joined her there, selecting a magazine out of the pile to flip through. "How difficult can it be, really?"  
  
His wife snorted. "Seriously? There's the dress, invitations, flowers, meal selections, music, the wedding and reception venues, guest lists, guest seating charts, the cake . . . Lucy's incredibly lucky that they can hold the reception at Arthur's family's house in Hampstead, because most reception venues have at least a six month waiting list, if not longer."  
  
Vlad blinked dark green eyes. "No wonder you were fine with eloping."  
  
"I did the planning with Jon, even if the wedding never happened." She shrugged. "Leave it to Lucy to throw a reception together in two weeks, though. Despite what happened last night, that was a lovely party."  
  
He tossed the magazine aside. "You took my breath away. I don't think you've ever looked more beautiful."  
  
Mina smiled and ducked her head. "You were pretty slick yourself in that tux."  
  
"But you preferred my red coat," he said knowingly.  
  
She laughed. "Oh, definitely. When we get home . . ."  
  
There was a knock on the door, and she sighed. "Hold that thought."  
  
Vlad rose and went to answer the door. It was Lucy.  
  
"Am I interrupting? I'm interrupting. I was looking online at these cakes, and-"  
  
Rolling his eyes, Vlad left the two women to their planning.


	22. Chapter 22

**\--Chapter Twenty-Two--**  
  
The house was relatively quiet--he could hear Eleanor Westenra in her rooms, watching "Mrs. Brown's Boys" and the live-in housekeeper in the kitchen--but Vlad still felt restless and alert.  
  
Arthur was in the library with some whiskey and a book, reclining on a chaise. Vlad saw that he was reading "An Illustrated History Of Romania", recently purchased.  
  
"I can answer questions for most of its history since the mid-fifteenth century, but I still don't understand the Communist period," he said.  
  
Arthur jumped, nearly spilling his drink. "I, ah . . ."  
  
"You were just looking me up," Vlad said knowingly. "I understand. That's incorrect, of course. It says I died in battle and my head was sent back to the Turks."  
  
"You've got all of a page and a half in here, despite being the country's most notorious prince," the human told him. "And there's a really ugly portrait."  
  
Smirking, Vlad went to pour himself a tumbler of whiskey. "It is, isn't it? It looks more like my father than me. All the actual images of me were destroyed after I supposedly died. There might be a coin or two floating around with my profile on it, but even that wasn't a very good likeness."  
  
He leaned against the sidebar and took a sip of his drink.  
  
"Why would they destroy all images of you?"  
  
"Superstition? I _did_ impale a thousand Turks outside my castle walls just to taunt the Turkish Sultan."  
  
"You scare me," Arthur admitted.  
  
"That's not a surprise," Vlad said mildly.  
  
The blonde man closed the book and set it aside. "How is Mina?"  
  
"She seems to be recovered. I'm going to take her back to Romania soon."  
  
Arthur frowned. "How soon is 'soon'? If you're not here, and the vampire attacks Lucy . . ."  
  
"That's the primary sticking point. Mina doesn't want to leave Lucy unprotected. I don't want Mina anywhere near this vampire. So we have a stalemate."  
  
"You've patrolled every night for it, and seen nothing?"  
  
"Unfortunately, no. I've sensed it out there, but it isn't like the one in Bucharest that I hunted. That one was a careless animal. This one is intelligent, even cunning. I think it's been toying with us for months, but what it wants, I have no idea."  
  
"Lucy won't be pleased at Mina leaving. She's thrilled to have her friend back, and with the wedding so close, having her head bridesmaid leave might upset her."  
  
Vlad set down his glass. "I have business concerns back in Târgoviște that I need to see to. I've been gone too long, and my assistant, Renfield, can't handle it all. He's very capable, but I prefer to keep a hand in as much as possible."  
  
"Hmm." Arthur drained his whiskey and stood. "Quite the dilemma we have. Do you think it's shifted its attention to Mina?"  
  
"I think it's entirely possible. I'm considering taking Mina back to Romania while I deal with my business affairs, then bringing her back here. A week or two wouldn't hurt Lucy's wedding planning, I would imagine."  
  
"Likely not. But if you leave, and the vampire comes . . ."  
  
"I'd suggest a crossbow. Guns won't do anything unless you blow our heads off. But a wooden bolt to the heart would do it."  
  
"Noted." Arthur's grey eyes were serious. "But if something _does_ happen . . ."  
  
"Let's not borrow trouble. It's left Lucy alone for close to a month."  
  
Arthur nodded. "That's true. Listen, I don't want to sound insensitive, but I'm pleased if it's no longer got its eye on Lu."  
  
Vlad shook his head. "I would actually rather it have its eye on Mina," he confessed. "Because then I don't have to split my attention."  
  
"You love her," Arthur stated.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I've been friends with Lucy for a good while, known her for years. So I've known Mina nearly as long. I saw what losing Jonathan did to her. You may scare the hell out of me, but I'm pleased to see her happy again."  
  
"Her happiness and safety are my utmost concern," Vlad told him. "And they always will be."  
  
"Good."  
  
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to patrol." And feed, but he didn't want to say that and freak out the human.  
  
He carried his used glass to the kitchen, where the housekeeper was preparing something for the next day. Vlad left through the back door.  
  
He was decided: he was going to take Mina back to Bucharest and hopefully draw the vampire along. If it didn't work, they'd just have to live with the consequences.  
  


* * *

 

  
"Mina? Mina!"  
  
Mina looked up at Lucy, blinking. "What?"  
  
"You completely zoned out on me. Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm just tired still."  
  
Lucy nodded. "I know how that is."  
  
Rubbing her eyes, Mina set aside the magazine she'd been looking at. "I'm sorry, Lu, I'm going to have to go to bed. Between last night and the baby . . ."  
  
"Oh, right! I forgot about the baby. Yes, of course. I'll clear this out of your way and let you get some sleep. We can pick up tomorrow."  
  
Lucy gathered the stack of glossy bridal magazines and skipped out, surprisingly buoyant for having nearly died three weeks previous. Mina, in contrast, felt limp and worn out.  
  
Since Vlad was out doing Vlad things, Mina hugged his pillow to her chest as she stretched out on the bed. She was out in moments.  
  
 _"Your scars are gone! What's happening to you?"_  
  
 _"I'm the thing people fear on Broken Tooth. Not a ghost. Something else."_  
  
 _"No, stop it! May God strike down whoever did this to you!"_  
  
 _"I chose this."_  
  
 _"This is the strength you sought?"_  
  
 _"In two days' time, I'll be restored. I just need to resist the thirst."_  
  
 _"The thirst? For what, Vlad, tell me!"_  
  
 _"Blood."_  
  
 _"And if you don't?"_  
  
 _"Then I'll be this for eternity."_  
  
 _"You will undo this, won't you?"_  
  
Mina woke with a start, flailing in panic. Arms caught her, and it wasn't until she heard Vlad's voice that she recognised her husband's embrace.  
  
"Mina?" he asked softly. "What is it?"  
  
She shook her head. "Just . . . memory. Again. Dreaming it this time."  
  
"What memory was it?"  
  
"When you told Mirena what you'd become. She was so scared for you."  
  
Vlad pulled Mina close. "It's alright. That was a long time ago."  
  
"It feels rather immediate to me." Mina let him hold her, needing his touch. "I've been thinking."  
  
"Mm. About what?"  
  
"I don't think I can continue teaching. Between what's going on in my head, and the baby, I don't think I can handle teaching as well."  
  
Vlad smoothed her hair with a hand. "Are you certain? You love teaching."  
  
"I love my sanity more. And when I have things settled, then I can go back to it."  
  
"That sounds like a good plan. I discussed things with Arthur. He's going to look after Lucy while we're in Romania. I need to go back and take care of things."  
  
"Okay. How long will we be there?"  
  
"A few weeks. Long enough to take care of things I've let slide while we've been here. I thought about going back and leaving you here, but I don't want you out of my sight."  
  
Mina shuddered. "Especially not after that thing attacked me."  
  
"Exactly. And we need to see about your residency application, if you're going to be living in Romania from now on."  
  
She wrapped her hands around his. "Have you thought about a house here? We can't stay with the Westenras forever."  
  
"I've considered it. Until the danger has passed, staying here would be ideal, but you're right. We can't stay here indefinitely, and once Arthur and Lucy are married, they'll be living elsewhere."  
  
"Probably at Arthur's townhouse. I wonder if there are any properties near his available."  
  
Vlad murmured agreement. "Why don't you look into it? Now, it's almost dawn, and I need sleep."  
  
Mina turned in his arms, her back to his chest, and closed her eyes. "Someplace with room for children," she mumbled.  
  
"Of course."  
  
Panic gone, Mina subsided into lethargy. It wasn't long before Vlad joined her.  
  


* * *

 

  
After a few hours of sleep, Vlad spent late morning and early afternoon on the phone to his assistant, Renfield. Mina, meanwhile, browsed real estate websites for a house that would fit their needs while in London.  
  
Lucy wasn't happy to learn that Mina was going back to Bucharest for a few weeks.  
  
"But what if it attacks me again?" she demanded.  
  
"I don't think it will," Mina assured her. "I think it's focused on me now. It's been weeks since it's come anywhere near you."  
  
Lucy's brown eyes narrowed. "And if it's just waiting for you to leave?"  
  
"We can't plan for every variable, Lu. Just . . . keep the doors and windows locked, don't let strangers in, and sleep with a stake under your pillow. Maybe wear silver, they don't like silver."  
  
Her friend sighed. "I suppose I can't keep you here forever. But promise me it'll only be two weeks!"  
  
"I'll fly back if I have to. Maybe I'll convince Vlad to get a private jet or something."  
  
Lucy laughed. "That's a bit high-profile for someone trying to keep their immortality under the radar."  
  
"True. Will you come look at this house with me? It's not far from that bakery you wanted to visit, anyway."  
  
"Why not?" Lucy sighed. "Vampire or not, life must go on."  
  
"That's the spirit!"


	23. Chapter 23

**\--Chapter Twenty-Three--**  
  
As much as she loved Lucy, Mina was looking forward to going home for a bit. She wasn't sure when she'd started thinking of the vineyard as home, but it was the most real home she'd ever had.  
  
The potential house in London wasn't really "home", either. Vlad had told her to find a suitable house, and she did. It was a Victorian, six bedrooms--not that they needed that many, but she could use one as an office--and a master bath with a positively huge tub, more than big enough for two.  
  
The estate agent didn't find it at all odd that Vlad needed to meet with them after dark. Given the price of the house, the woman was willing to do anything she needed to make the sale.  
  
"We'll need plenty of curtains," Vlad said, as he toured the house with Mina, wanting a look himself before signing anything. "But that's obvious. What is with this family's fixation on antlers?"  
  
"Covering the windows is a given, yes. And I have no idea. Did you see the antlers in the tree in the back? They're wrapped around the poor oak like they've been there a century."  
  
"They might have. It's an old house. It'll do."  
  
Vlad signed the contract to purchase the house, and the estate agent nearly had a heart attack when he said he could buy it outright, no financial haggling necessary. Mina had known he had money, but not _that_ much liquid cash.  
  
"We'll settle when we get back from Bucharest," he said, as they left in his car. "I want to leave for the continent in the morning."  
  
"Before first light, I'd imagine," his wife said. "I don't think I have the stamina to drive straight through like you did."  
  
"We won't. I figure we'll drive as far as you can stand, and spend the night wherever we are then. Take our time, have a bit of a honeymoon."  
  
Mina smiled. "That sounds lovely. I'm just worried about any stops we might need to make during the day. Such as petrol."  
  
"There are full-service stations, as well as ones with shade. And if necessary, I can call a storm in to block the sun."  
  
She shook her head. "It's still very strange to me that you can do that."  
  
"Usually, it's just a little manipulation and cloud cover. Sometimes, if I get very angry, though, it's a full-blown thunderstorm."  
  
She turned in her seat to study him. "I would imagine the Turks got very wet the day Mirena died."  
  
"They did," he said shortly. Then he apologised. "Five hundred years and it still upsets me."  
  
Mina reached over and touched his arm. "I'm here. And I'm not going away ever again."  
  
"You had better not. I couldn't lose you a second time."  
  
They arrived back at the Westenras' home, and Mina packed her luggage. She'd had to buy some new clothes while in London, some of it to fit her expanding waistline, and thus a new suitcase.  
  
"I'm sad to see you go," Lucy said, as Mina folded her clothes. "It was bad enough knowing you'd only be there a year. But now . . ."  
  
"I'll be back, and when everything is taken care of, I'll visit as often as I can." Mina came around the bed and hugged her best friend. "Two weeks, Lu, and we'll be back. Alright?"  
  
"Two weeks. I'll hold you to that."  
  
Lucy left her to finish packing. Mina sat on the bed and sighed, hoping she'd be able to keep her promise.

 

* * *

 

  
  
True to his word, Vlad roused Mina before dawn and they set off. They met the ferry in Dover, and it took an hour and a half to cross the Channel and reach Calais.  
  
"Should we spend the night in Paris?" Mina suggested. "I've been, but it was with Lucy in university."  
  
"If you'd like."  
  
"You're being awfully accommodating," she observed.  
  
Vlad glanced over at her. "I feel I owe you. I exposed you to all of this."  
  
"Aren't you the one who was going on about fate?"  
  
"That doesn't mean I can't feel guilty."  
  
His wife shook her head, blonde hair wisping around her face. "Don't feel guilty. I'm right where I want to be. Besides, there's every chance that even if we hadn't met, this thing would have come after me and Lucy."  
  
He acknowledged that with a nod of his head. "True. And logically, I know all this. But five hundred years of guilt at failing to save Mirena makes me very eager to keep you safe."  
  
Mina leaned back in her seat. There was obviously no way she was going to convince him that Mirena's death wasn't his fault. It was entirely the fault of the Turk that had kicked her over the edge of the tower.  
  
"This does explain something," she mused aloud.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Why I've been afraid of heights my whole life."  
  
He smirked. "Besides the fact that you're short?"  
  
She pretended to smack his arm. He laughed.  
  
"See? That's what I want from you. Not moping! You used to laugh and smile so much more."  
  
"I haven't had much to smile about these past years. And I've been worried about you."  
  
"I'm going to make sure you have more to smile about. To start with . . . We're having a baby."  
  
Vlad grinned at that.  
  
Mina smiled, seeing it. "I don't care if we have a boy or a girl, really. I'd ultimately like one of each, if we can."  
  
"Either is fine with me."  
  
"We should discuss names. I know it's early yet, but I like to plan things."  
  
"Hmm." Vlad concentrated on driving for a while. "I don't want to name any of our children after my family members. Especially Radu."  
  
Mina huffed a laugh. "No. No, definitely not. The more I remember about him, the more I wonder why you didn't exile him."  
  
"Or worse," Vlad muttered. "The backstabbing little rodent."  
  
She snorted. "What was the name of the priest who saved Ingeras?"  
  
"Lucien."  
  
"The red-haired priest?" Mina blinked. "My best friend is named Lucy, and she has red hair."  
  
". . . That is a very odd coincidence." Vlad swore under his breath as an Audi cut him off. "We could name a boy Luka, honour both of them."  
  
"I like that idea."  
  
They drove in silence for a while. Mina found herself dozing, lulled by the low hum of the car's engine and the passing countryside. Vlad nudged her as they entered Paris. She jerked awake, blinking.  
  
"We're here already?" she asked, and yawned.  
  
"You've been asleep for two hours," he pointed out.  
  
"Oh. Sorry."  
  
"Don't apologize. You have every reason to be tired."  
  
Mina noticed it was overcast, the sun hidden by clouds. "Did you do that?" she asked.  
  
"Actually, no. The weather is just cooperating with us today."  
  
The hotel Vlad chose had underground parking, and an entrance from there into the building, which saved him from having to risk stray sunlight. He secured them a suite, requesting that all the drapes be closed before they got up to their room.  
  
"I'm surprised no one thought that was an odd request," Mina commented in the elevator on the way up.  
  
"The rich are largely eccentric," her husband told her. "I'm fairly sure that wasn't anywhere near the top of their list of strange requests."  
  
In their room, Mina took a brief tour of the suite, then kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed. "Ooh, comfy!"  
  
"Is it?"  
  
"Mm-hmm." Mina crooked a finger at him. "Come join me."  
  
She didn't have to ask twice.

 

* * *

  
  
  
They reached Târgoviște two days later. Mina was delighted to find that while they were gone, Vlad had had an enormous, jetted tub installed in their bathroom.  
  
"Oh, this is going to be so wonderful," she told him.  
  
"I thought you'd like it."  
  
Mina decided that the room next to theirs would be turned into a nursery. "While you're in meetings in Bucharest, I can shop for baby things."  
  
Vlad hugged her and kissed the side of her neck. "I adore you."  
  
Mina giggled and tried to pull away. He pretended to growl and pulled her back.  
  
"You're happier here, aren't you?" she asked in a whisper.  
  
"It's home. Yes."  
  
She sighed. "When Lucy's wedding is done, we'll come back here and stay a long time. I want to have the baby here. I mean, not here at the house, but in Romania."  
  
"Yes. I agree."  
  
"I think I'm going to try out the new tub. You want to join me?"  
  
He grinned wolfishly. "Try and stop me."  
  


* * *

 

  
Their third day back, Vlad had meetings in Bucharest, so Mina tagged along to do some shopping. When she was finished, she went to Vlad's more public restaurant to wait for him and have some lunch. The day was dark and overcast, Vlad's doing, but she sat outside on the terrace anyway.  
  
Mina pressed her hands to the small bulge of her stomach. She was definitely showing now, which just made it all the more real. She really didn’t care what it would be. All Mina cared was that it was Vlad’s. That they had even concieved at all was a miracle. Having Mirena's memories of each loss just made this pregnancy all the more poignant for Mina.  
  
“Forgive me for intruding,” a cultured voice said, and she looked up to see an older man, a little balding, with pale blue eyes and pale skin, watching her.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“For a moment, I thought you were my granddaughter.” He smiled kindly. “But that isn’t possible.”  
  
Mina frowned. “Besides the obvious, that I’m not, why isn’t that possible?”  
  
“Oh, she died a long time ago,” he said sadly. “But you look so much like her . . .”  
  
Mina wasn't exactly sure what to say to that.  
  
"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked, and before she could respond, he sat down.  
  
"Um. Sure," she said belatedly.  
  
"You're far too pretty to be dining alone," he said.  
  
Mina frowned. "I'm waiting for my husband. He should be here any minute."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure he will be."  
  
As if on cue, Vlad's car pulled up at the curb, and her husband got out. He came her way, smiling broadly at the sight of her. That smile turned puzzled when he saw the man sitting with her.  
  
"Vlad," she said warmly. "You're running late."  
  
"My meeting ran long. I'm sorry." He turned to the man sitting at her table. "I apologize, I don't think we've met. Are you a work colleague of my wife's?"  
  
"Oh," the man drawled, "we've met. Has it really been so long that you don't remember, Prince?"  
  
It was the voice that did it. Vlad froze. “Mina. Get up and get behind me.”  
  
His wife was puzzled, but stood as requested. “Why?”  
  
The man she’d been speaking to grinned, exposing a mouth full of fangs. “A pleasure to see you again, Țepeș.”  
  
“That’s not who I am,” Vlad said automatically, even as he took two long strides and put himself between Mina and the stranger.  
  
“Oh, no. That’s right. You call yourself Dracula now. Son of the Devil, is it?” The man laughed, and backed away.  
  
“What do you want?” Vlad demanded.  
  
Mina finally realised there was intense history between Vlad and the stranger. His story about his granddaughter was obviously a lie to get to her. Her hand went to her pocket, where the cross necklace Vlad had given her, to protect against the vampire if it should attack her again, was tucked away.  
  
Why didn't I put it on this morning, instead of in my pocket? she wondered furiously.  
  
The pale blue eyes of the stranger flicked to her. “No need for the silver, little one. Not _yet_.”  
  
In a whirl of darkness, he was gone. Vlad spun and yanked her into his arms, holding her close.  
  
“Are you alright?” he asked softly.  
  
“I’m fine. Who was that?”  
  
He kissed the top of her head. “The thing on Broken Tooth Mountain. The vampire that turned me.”  
  
She pushed back to look up at him. “You’re kidding me.”  
  
“No. I do not like that he’s sniffing after you.” Vlad frowned thunderously, and above them, lightning split the sky.  
  
"He seemed so nice," she whispered. "I didn't know."  
  
"No. I never described him to you, and he looks very different now. But I think we've found the vampire that's been stalking you and Lucy."  
  
"You think it was him?"  
  
"Oh, I know it was him, now. Everything makes so much sense. He told me we were playing a game, but . . . I didn't believe him."  
  
Mina shivered. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"I don't know, _iubita mea_. This changes everything." Vlad held her close, his face bleak. "How do I keep you safe from the devil?"  
  
  
 _To be continued . . ._


End file.
